Vogue Goes to Athlos—A First-of-Its-Kind Track Event in NYC
On any given night, there are a million things to do in New York City—uptown galas, downtown dinner parties, shows on Broadway. Last night, yet another event entered the fray: Athlos, a first-of-its-kind track event and celebration of women’s sports at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.
The brainchild of Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, Athlos—which is the Greek word for “athlete”—brought 36 of the world’s most elite women track stars to NYC to compete. (It brought quite the party to town too: DJ D-Nice provided the live soundtrack; Lupita Nyong’o and Shonda Rhimes sat trackside; and a Meganh Thee Stallion performance capped the evening.)
Athlos, Ohanin told Vogue days before the event, was inspired by the same pattern he noticed in women’s soccer while investing in the Los Angeles women’s soccer team, Angel City FC: The players capture global attention every four years during the World Cup, only for the fanfare to fade immediately after the tournament. “The American women have always been exceptional in track and field,” he says. “We re all captivated by these women during the Olympics, then for four years it seems like they disappear.”
Ohanian, who founded and helms the venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, formally announced the event in April alongside Gabby Thomas—just month’s before Thomas’s record-breaking turn at the Paris Olympics. “Obviously, Gabby winning three gold medals certainly helped,” Ohanian says of Athlos attracting top-tier athletes and a crowd of enthusiastic spectators, “but track and field has captivated everyone this year, and you’re seeing these stars get a lot of the attention they deserve. It’s our job to make sure they keep getting it in between now and the next Olympics. That’s what Athlos is about.”
While logistics took months to finalize, the location was much easier to settle on. “I was made in Fort Greene, so I always have a bias for this great city,” says Ohanian, noting his Brooklyn roots. New York being home to legendary teams like the Yankees and Knicks was another draw. “Selfishly, I wanted to do something that would place Athlos right at the heart of sports excellence.”
Last night, before a crowd that included Paris 2024 breakout fan Flavor Flav, Olympic medalist Sanya Richards-Ross, and a sizable group of local high school students—many of them young track athletes—Athlos played host to six races: 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 800m, and 1,500m. The winners, who included Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico (100m hurdles) and American Brittany Brown, who upset Thomas in the 200m, were crowned, literally. In lieu of medals, each first-place finisher was awarded a sterling silver Tiffany Co. crown, crafted specifically for the occasion. Cash prizes totaled more than $500,000, with winners taking home $60,000 each—unprecedented numbers for women’s track.
Married to tennis legend Serena Williams since 2017, Ohanian has seen firsthand the disparity in pay between men’s and women’s sports, and has also watched that needle move. “Thanks to Billie [Jean King] and thanks to Serena and Venus, [tennis] is a very well-compensated sport now for women. Golf is another one that’s tracking in terms of compensation. But track and field is still very, very, very behind.”
The night took a decidedly raucous turn when Megan Thee Stallion appeared onstage and performed a high-octane set of hits (frequently acknowledging the fellow hot girls in the crowd).
Ohanian, who watched the event alongside friends and his 7-year-old daughter, Olympia, was all smiles at the end of the event; though he did say he had taken note of all that he’d like to improve. “At a minimum, we’re doing it again next year,” he says. “I have that ambition and our team has that ambition. At the same time, we also know we’ve got to earn our way back in here.”
Ahead, more photos from the first Athlos event in New York City.
Courtesy of Athlos1/15
Courtesy of Athlos2/15
