Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian says he will 'page Beyonce' after hearing Lynna Irby-Jackson's candid comment about pop icon
Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian said he would be paging pop sensation Beyonce. His comment came in the wake of track and field sprinter Lynna Irby-Jackson saying that she listens to Beyonce's songs to fire herself up to perform.
On Monday, the 25-year-old sprinter told Athlos, Ohanian's passion project that offers track and field's biggest prize purse, that she listens to songs from Beyonce's seventh studio album, Renaissance, to hype herself up before races. The video of Irby-Jackson's candid comment was later posted by Athlos' official Instagram account.
"The artist that I'm listening to, that gets me hyped up before a race, Beyonce, the Renaissance album was amazing. It gets me pumped up," Irby-Jackson told Athlos.
Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, later shared Irby-Jackson's statement via an Instagram Story, captioning it:
"Paging @Beyonce"
Earlier this year, following the inaugural Athlos event, Ohanian reflected on its success and said that women's track and field athletes now have the platform they deserve to showcase their talents.
Lynna Irby-Jackson shot to fame when she was just 12, as she set the all-time world record in the 400m dash. She is the fastest 400m high school runner the USA has produced in the last two decades.
Irby-Jackson amassed an astonishing 16 titles from meets at the Youth National and Jr Olympic levels. She has also bagged silver medals, first at the 2015 World Youth Championships and then at the 2016 World Junior Championships.
"The vibes were big" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian on the inaugural Athlos NYC meet
Towards the end of September this year, the first Athlos meet was held in New York's Icahn Stadium. The meet featured six separate events and featured some of women's track and field's biggest names such as Gabby Thomas and Brittany Brown. At the conclusion of the meet, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Athlos, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:
"First of all, the vibes were BIG. Having 29x Olympic medals on the roster sure helps turn out an audience, but track has been on the rise this year, period. These women are finally getting the spotlight they deserve. @Athlos is all about amplifying that, and it worked!"
Over the years, Ohanian has become an advocate for the growth of women's sports in the USA and has invested heavily in not just track and field, but soccer as well. The Reddit co-founder is one of several high-profile co-owners of Angel City FC, a franchise competing in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).