Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian believes his Athlos NYC has no competition with Diamond League as latter increases prize money

By Zahid Rashid Dar

Modified Sep 19, 2024 16:47 GMT

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Serena Williams' husband and Athlos NYC founder Alexis Ohanian claimed that his women's-only track league doesn't see the Diamond League as competition following the recent announcement of the latter increasing its prize money. The inaugural event of Ohanian's league is scheduled for September 26 at the Icahn Stadium, with the 200-meter Olympic champion Gabby Thomas headlining a star-studded lineup of runners.

Ohanian announced the launch of the new track league in April this year alongside Thomas, a partner and the league's first signing. It was initially named the 776 Invitational before being changed to its current name, Athlos NYC.

At its launch, Athlos NYC was the highest prize money-offering track and field event in the world. The winners will take home $60,000 in prize money which is $10,000 more than what Olympic gold medalists get from World Athletics. Following Ohanian's launch of Athlos NYC, track legend Michael Johnson came up with his league, Grand Slam Track, which will pay $100,000 to the winners.

Before the launch of Athlos NYC and Grand Slam Track, track and field only had one proper league which was the Diamond League circuit. With the arrival of the two new leagues, the Diamond League announced an increase in its prize money for the 2025 season, offering $60k-100k in the Finals for the winners in place of $50k. Reacting to the Diamond League's announcement, a user wrote on X:

"Now that the Diamond League is going to have some competition…"

However, Athlos NYC founder Alexis Ohanian didn't share a similar opinion. Replying to the user, he stated that his women's only league didn't see Diamond League as their competition. He instead called the two leagues 'complementary'.

"We @athlos don't see Diamond League as competition — it's complementary — and I've personally loved seeing so many folks start investing into the sport since our announcement back in April," he said.

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Alexis Ohanian in awe of track and field as a sport

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian at the US Open Tennis Championship 2022 (Source: Getty)

Alexis Ohanian claimed he had never watched a track and field meet in person before launching the Athlos NYC. But as he gets closer and closer to the sport, the Reddit founder said he is getting more confident about its potential.

"It's just an awesome sport. I've only gotten more and more confident the more time I've spent in this sport and around the sport. I went to Eugene for my first-ever track meet," he told Citius Magazine.

Ohanian added that the best part of his experience so far with the sport was the response from athletes, all of whom he claimed were impressed with the idea.