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It’s official: observe and area is sizzling proper now. The game’s ascendence was on full show this summer time on the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, and the Paris Olympics. Whereas the Diamond League professional circuit wrapped up final weekend in Brussels, observe will as soon as once more be a marquee attraction at 7 P.M. ET Thursday night time on the inaugural Athlos NYC girls’s-only skilled observe meet below the lights of New York Metropolis’s Icahn Stadium.
Coming sizzling on the heels of not solely a surge of curiosity in observe and area, but additionally in girls’s sports activities at giant, Athlos will showcase a few of observe’s largest stars competing for the biggest prize purse within the sport’s historical past.
However the six-event meet—sure, simply six working occasions—can be paired with music and different leisure, plus a live performance from Grammy-winning artist Meghan Thee Stallion in what is likely to be finest described as a track-meets-Coachella vibe. Finally, it’s an try to elevate and have fun the game and a few of its most dazzling athletes—each of which draw large mainstream curiosity throughout the Olympics however in any other case undergo from an absence of recognition and fan engagement. The U.S. Olympic crew has gained the observe and area medal rely at each Olympics since 1984, however home observe meets nonetheless wrestle to promote out stadiums in Eugene, Los Angeles, and New York Metropolis.
RELATED: Alexis Ohanian’s Large Guess on Ladies’s Sports activities Involves Ladies’s Observe
Observe Reimagined
Athlos NYC is the primary of what might be a number of new observe occasions trying to “repair observe and area” and capitalize on the abilities of the world’s finest athletes. Sprinting legend Michael Johnson is launching Grand Slam Observe subsequent yr, a four-meet collection backed by a hefty funding by Winners Alliance (the for-profit arm of the Skilled Tennis Gamers Affiliation), whereas Barry Kahn, a former Cornell distance runner, plans to carry the primary Duael Observe meet, a March Insanity-style head-to-head occasion, in March 2025.
Already, this previous summer time because the Olympics have been happening in Paris, the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, hosted the Inaugural Ladies’s Decathlon World Championships. The ten-event decathlon shouldn’t be supplied for girls in worldwide competitors just like the Olympics (however the seven-event heptathlon is), so a personal group of organizers staged an unsanctioned world championship for 29 rivals from all over the world as a name to motion for the Worldwide Olympic Committee and World Athletics to embrace the occasion.
Athlos NYC might be onto one thing particular. If nothing else, with the glow of the Olympic buzz nonetheless hanging round, the ladies of the game will get an opportunity to shut out the yr in fashion.
Listed below are 10 issues you want to find out about Athlos NYC to get psyched for the motion.
1. All Ladies, No Males.
The invitational meet is barely open to girls. Ladies’s sports activities have been lastly getting extra mainstream consideration lately. Due to athletic icons like Caitlin Clark (basketball), Megan Rapinoe (soccer), Simone Biles (gymnastics), Serena Williams (tennis, see No. 4), and the College of Nebraska girls’s volleyball crew (Google it), most of the people has found out that girls’s sports activities rock.
RELATED: Memorable Moments from a Historic Ladies’s Race on the Olympic Trials
2. All Observe, No Discipline.
Athlos NYC will solely have six working occasions: 100- 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter races, plus the 100-meter hurdles. There can be no area occasions, no long-distance occasions, and no relays. However that doesn’t imply Athlos will exclude these disciplines sooner or later. And because the Athlos crew builds the meet from the ground-up, they’re making an attempt to appropriate the issues of the present observe and area enterprise mannequin, together with how most occasions don’t obtain full consideration as a result of there are three issues occurring without delay, how TV protection is interrupted by ill-timed business breaks, and an absence of id for up-and-coming skills.
3. It’s a Observe Meet with Large-Time Funding.
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, is the first investor behind Athlos NYC by way of his Seven Seven Six enterprise capital agency. The 41-year-old Brooklyn-born entrepreneur co-founded and invested within the girls’s skilled soccer crew Angel Metropolis FC, in addition to the Los Angeles Golf Membership, and the ladies’s sports activities bar generally known as The Sports activities Bra, which he says he’s taken with franchising throughout the U.S. Ohanian has mentioned that if Athlos NYC goes nicely, there’ll seemingly be extra occasions prefer it sooner or later.
4. Why is it referred to as Athlos NYC?
The occasion was initially referred to as the 776 Invitational to honor the yr of the traditional Olympics (held in 776 BC), however the title was modified to “Athlos NYC” this summer time. “Athlos” is a Greek phrase meaning embodying the essence of excellence and triumph.
5. A Star-Studded Lineup.
Athlos NYC promised a stacked entry checklist, and it delivered a number of prime stars and 4 Paris Olympic gold medalists. High names within the six-race, 36-athlete roster embrace Gabby Thomas, who gained America’s coronary heart along with her gold-medal efficiency within the 200 meters on the Paris Olympics, adopted by two extra golds within the 4×100-meter relay and the 4×400-meter relay. She was the primary athlete to signal onto Athlos and helped Ohanian announce the occasion to the general public. She’ll be joined within the 200 by Olympic bronze medalist Brittany Brown and two-time Olympian Jenna Prandini.
RELATED: Gabby Thomas Wins Three Golds—and America’s Coronary heart
The 100-meter hurdles will pit the final two Olympic champions Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico and Masai Russell of the U.S., in opposition to reigning world champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica. The 400 will characteristic the respective Paris gold and silver medalists, Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) and Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain), in addition to U.S. Olympians Shamier Little and Alexis Holmes. Fellow U.S. Olympian Nia Akins will face off within the 800 in opposition to 2023 world champ Mary Moraa of Kenya. And what is likely to be the spotlight of the racing motion, the 1500 meters will characteristic Kenyan middle-distance GOAT Religion Kipyegon, the three-time Olympic champion and world document holder, going head-to-head with Gudaf Tsegay, the Ethiopian star and the world document holder within the 5,000 who can be the third-fastest 1500 runner in historical past.
Nonetheless, a number of of observe’s brightest stars—together with two-time Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion and world document holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Olympic 100-meter champion Julien Alfred, British middle-distance stalwart Keely Hodgkinson, and American dash phenom Sha’Carri Richardson—are usually not competing.
6. The Largest Observe Prize Purse in Historical past.
The purse is the largest-ever for a observe meet: $60,000 for first place, $25,000 for second, $10,000 for third, $8,000 for fourth, $5,000 for fifth, and $2,500 for sixth in every of the 5 occasions. That’s a whopping $552,500 whole in prize cash. The winner’s take-home payout is greater than what was paid on the Paris Olympics ($50,000) and twice what the Diamond League Finals paid winners ($30,000). Plus, every occasion champion will obtain a specifically crafted Tiffany & Firm crown, and 10 % of all Athlos income—together with ticket gross sales, can be redistributed to taking part athletes.
7. Megan Thee Stallion is Headlining.
Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (aka Megan Thee Stallion) gained’t be working, however the Grammy-winning pop star who is thought for prime hits “Savage” and “Scorching Lady Summer time” can be placing on a stay present. A live performance at a sporting occasion may give Athlos NYC Tremendous Bowl vibes. “We haven’t introduced the precise run of present for the occasion,” says Athlos chief advertising officer Kayla Inexperienced. “We wish spectators to return alongside for the journey with us. We’re inviting them to expertise a brand new form of observe occasion that celebrates the athletes on the middle. The night time is a mix of velocity and sound.” DJ Derric “D-Good” Jones will spin data between occasions and curate iconic walk-out music for every runner within the lead-up to their race.
8. For Ladies, By Ladies.
On-camera character and Peloton health teacher Robin Arzón will function an occasion commentator alongside American observe nice Sonya Richards Ross. The occasion will present the first-ever race bibs designed for girls in a smaller dimension, facilitating what the organizers say can be “not solely a greater match for a girl’s torso but additionally for the smaller competitors tops typically worn by these athletes.” As well as, Serena Williams’ magnificence firm, WYN Magnificence, can be doing hair and make-up for athletes previous to competitors.
9. Will Large Stars Be within the Viewers?
Icahn Stadium holds 5,000 folks in its grandstands, however the occasion may also arrange 10 personal suites on the observe degree. Whereas occasion organizers “don’t have a readout on viewers demographics,” if current sporting occasions in New York Metropolis are any indication, there’s an opportunity there can be some well-known followers within the crowd supporting among the quickest girls on the planet. (Stars like rapper Taste Flav, trend icon Vera Wang, actor Matthew McConaughy, and sure, pop star Taylor Swift have been all in attendance on the U.S. Open.) However as of Wednesday, the occasion has not bought out. Dozens of tickets are nonetheless accessible, ranging in value from $80 to $95 at face worth and as much as $498 on the resale ticket market on the Athlos occasion web site
10. You Can Catch All of the Motion from House or Your Telephone.
Athlos NYC can be livestreamed on X, YouTube, ESPN+, and DAZN (worldwide). Athlos NYC may also re-air on ESPN2 from 6-8 P.M. ET on September 29.
