The windfall spurred additional funding. In April, by way of Seven Seven Six, Ohanian invested within the Portland, Oregon girls’s sports activities bar The Sports activities Bra, with plans to franchise the idea throughout the nation. This summer season, through the Paris Olympics, he and rapper Taste Flav even helped cowl lease for the American discus thrower Veronica Fraley.
However his greatest enterprise within the house is undoubtedly Athlos, the wholly authentic observe competitors that can debut in New York Metropolis on Sept. 26 at Icahn Stadium. The one-night occasion basically reimagines the idea of a observe meet, a results of Ohanian taking a “first rules” strategy to the expertise.
Not like conventional track-and-field competitions, Athlos will function solely six races—a 100-meter hurdle, in addition to 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter sprints—with six athletes every. All the athletes will likely be girls, together with Olympians Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes.
The occasion will likely be soundtracked by DJ D-Good, who will spin data between heats and soundtrack every athlete with a walk-out track. On the finish of the evening, rapper Megan Thee Stallion will carry out.
The purse at stake may also dwarf what observe athletes usually stand to make from single occasions. Each runner in each race will take dwelling prize cash, starting from $2,500 for sixth place to $60,000 for first. Sponsors for the inaugural Athlos embrace Tiffany & Co., which is able to present winners with customized crowns, in addition to Strava, Therabody, and Bandit.
The occasion is audacious in its ambition. Not like girls’s soccer or basketball, which have widespread males’s precedents, observe has little mindshare within the American conscience, no matter gender. Ohanian just isn’t making an attempt to make widespread a feminine model of a traditionally male sport; he’s making an attempt to place observe on the map, interval.
