Inaugural Athlos Meet Entertains & Draws Raves from Athletes — But the Fans Will Decide Its Long-Term Fate

NEW YORK – As he walked into Icahn Stadium on a warm, muggy evening, Alexis Ohanian explained how he would measure the success of Athlos, his new track venture that debuted on Thursday with a six-race, women’s-only program featuring flares, an on-site DJ, a whole bunch of lights, and a post-race concert by Megan Thee Stallion.

“Our test for Monday morning is…yes, how many people watched, how many people tweeted, all the obvious metrics,” said Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder turned venture capitalist. “But the most important one is what was the feedback we got from the 36 women racing tonight. Did they come out of this saying this was the best track meet I have ever been to? If yes, then I think we’re onto something.”

That was always going to be a high bar to clear – “you really can’t beat the Olympics,” said sprinter Brittany Brown – but Athlos received near-universal praise from Ohanian’s key demographic. The women invited to compete in New York received a slew of perks: first-class travel, a bunch of free goodies, and black car rides from the airport and to the meet. They were taken on a glamour photo shoot on Wednesday, where their makeup was done by professionals. 

Brittany Brown Upsets Gabby Thomas in Athlos 200m (Kevin Morris photo)

“It’s princess treatment,” said 400 runner Shamier Little (fittingly, there were Tiffany-designed crowns for event winners). “We don’t get that at all at any other meet.”

They also received a lot of prize money: $110,500 per event, including $60,000 for first and $25,000 for second. That was enough to lure four Olympic champions from Paris: Americans Gabby Thomas, who helped launch the meet in April, and Masai Russell, plus Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino.

Tsige Duguma The Queen of Athlos 800 (Kevin Morris photo)

But no one earned more on Thursday than Brown, who finished second in the 100m in 11.05 and doubled back to defeat Olympic champion Gabby Thomas to win the 200m in 22.18. $85,000 for barely 33 seconds of running. Not a bad night.

More Athlos: *Race Videos *Results *Post-Race interviews

Brown, who took home $30,000 for winning the Diamond League 200m final two weeks ago in Brussels, was in a very good mood after another big payday. She said thoughtful gifts such as a bottle of tequila and a Therabody device plus an open line of communication with meet management made her feel like a VIP before she even stepped on the track.

“I ain’t never been treated like this,” Brown said. “…Sometimes we go to meets and it doesn’t feel very athlete-centered…That’s important, just as much as money. Show me that you care.”

In the buildup, Ohanian and Athlos Chief Marketing Officer Kayla Green solicited ideas from athletes about changes they would like to see from a standard meet. One of the changes they implemented – smaller bibs tailored to a female torso – came directly from hurdler Alaysha Johnson.

“From the moment that I signed my contract to run here, I’ve been in full conversation with them,” Johnson said. “Anytime [Kayla] texts me, I’m able to talk to her.”

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Athlos felt more like an event than a track meet. As athletes entered the stadium on Thursday, they walked past a line of fans pressed against a barricade that would erupt in screams for major arrivals. Once inside the property, they passed through a red carpet-type type setup where they could pose for photos. Lights, most of them some shade of pink or purple, were everywhere: behind the starting blocks, lining the track, on the wristbands given out to every spectator, flashing in rhythm with the beats from DJ D-Nice. At track level, a large VIP section stretched the length of home straight, attracting names like the rapper Flavor Flav and the actresses Lupita Nyong’o and Nathalie Emmanuel.

It felt…what’s the word? Cool. Count Johnson among the athletes who likes track this way.

“Here it’s like, regardless of the outcome, we’re here to entertain,” Johnson said. “It’s an event. It’s not necessarily a track meet, if that makes sense. That’s how all sports should be, that’s how football is, that’s how basketball is so we should follow suit.”

Faith Kipyegon Celebrates Athlos 1500 Win (Kevin Morris photo)

Fans watching online — the meet was streamed live via YouTube and X — were treated to a broadcast featuring slick graphics that played into the event vibe. With no field events between races, the feed jumped from pre-recorded feature segments to interviews with celebrities in the VIP section and track legends from a SportsCenter-style trackside desk.

The meet was not without its hiccups. The quality and consistency of the in-stadium audio left something to be desired. And in the very first race, the women’s 100 hurdles, Jasmine Camacho-Quinnn flinched just before the gun but was not called for a false start. That left third-placer Russell, who flinched in response to Camacho-Quinn and hung in the blocks for a beat as a result, frustrated after Camacho-Quinn won in 12.36 while Russell finished 3rd in 12.44.

“As anyone can see, there was a lot of flinching going on at the startline line so that kind of affected me,” Russell said. “I was playing catchup the whole entire race. There’s some big prize money on the line, and I think the person who ran the legal race should get the prize money that they deserve.”

(Russell filed a protest, which was denied; her agent Paul Doyle told LetsRun the false start detection device did not show a false start for Camacho-Quinn).

In general, the races were of high quality, with winning times of 12.36, 49.59 (400m, Marileidy Paulino), and 1:57.43 (800m, Tsige Duguma). Faith Kipyegon did what she always does, running her 1500m win streak to 20 thanks to a killer 58.45 final 400 in a 4:04.79 race. But so late in the season – the Olympics were seven weeks ago – the stakes felt a bit muted, even with all that money on offer.

Athletes all praised the atmosphere, and while Icahn Stadium, which seats 5,000, was not sold out, the fans were loud during athlete introductions, especially for those who won gold in Paris. Athlos was going head-to-head with the Giants-Cowboys game across the Hudson River, but Ohanian doesn’t view the NFL as much of a rival, anyway. 

The crowd at the start of the inaugural Athlos meet

“They are the big goliath of American sports, and I relish the chance to do [our event] in the same town,” Ohanian said. “Because I think we are a fundamentally different product for a fundamentally different audience.”

(Perhaps not 100% different, though — Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was at the Giants game).

That is one of the bets Ohanian is making with Athlos. Another: that you can draw a straight line from athlete experience to fan engagement.

“This is 101 if you’re building a billion-dollar company from zero,” Ohanian said. “You talk to your customers, you talk to your power users, you talk to best users. Those are the athletes themselves.”

By offering prize money, first-class travel, VIP touches, and a post-meet concert by Megan Thee Stallion, Ohanian is winning the popularity contest among the athletes who competed tonight (there were no field events or men’s events).

But none of that stuff is cheap. And ultimately, it is the fans, rather than the athletes, whom Ohanian must win over if Athlos is to become sustainable.

Athlos is off to a decent start. The first edition had a bunch of sponsors — Athlos lists 18 “proud partners” on its website — the meet looked good on TV despite some empty seats, and the crowd was into it.

Ohanian said he plans on holding another Athlos meet in 2025, and he does not view this investment in women’s sports as a charity. If Athlos is going to keep spending seven figures to stage a track meet (prize money alone was $663,000 on Thursday), the true test is whether it can eventually make that money back. That depends on fans, in person and at home, finding the meet compelling. Edition #1 definitely focused on trying to entertain them.

More Athlos: *Race Videos *Results *Post-Race interviews