Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian reacts as Michael Johnson-led Grand Slam Track unveils locations for its inaugural edition 

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Nov 16, 2024 03:42 GMT

Alexis Ohanian expressed his excitement as the Michael Johnson-led Grand Slam Track recently announced the venues for the inaugural season of the revolutionary event. The Track meet which was founded by Michael Johnson reportedly received $30 million in funding from investors and partners and aims to pioneer a massive change in the sport.

Grand Slam Track aims to make the sport popular worldwide alongside addressing several issues faced by athletes during the regular season. Michael Johnson has been vocal about his motive to make the event more fan-focused as well as tackle the issue of track athletes being underpaid as compared to players in the NBA and the NFL.

Witnessing similar issues, Alexis Ohanian recently launched his track meet 'Athlos' with some of the fastest athletes in the world like Gabby Thomas competing for the ultimate crown. Moreover, the winners received massive paychecks. Along with that the meet featured performances by Megan The Stallion & DJ D Nice giving the spectators an incredible viewing experience.

As the Grand Slam Track announced its racing venues which included Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, Alexis Ohanian took to X to express his excitement as well as praised the tagline.

"All four 2025 slams are set! Racers are ready to clash. Fans are in for four Speed Festivals fusing racing and culture! @GrandSlamTrack," read the announcement.

Ohanian reacted to the announcement and wrote:

"Speed Festivals fusing racing and culture" -- I love this new framing for GST. Congrats and I'm looking forward to watching."

Alexis Ohanian on his decision to launch a track meet

Alexis Ohanian during Washington Football Team v Las Vegas Raiders - Source: Getty

Alexis Ohanian spoke about his decision to launch a women's-only track meet in an interview during the Athlos NYC. The co-founder of Reddit expressed that attending the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials had a huge influence on his decision.

“I realize they (U.S Olympic Trials) have an important job right. They (have) to cycle through a ton of incredible athletes over a number of days to figure out who goes to the Olympics. Their ‘why’ is different from ours right," he said.

"We get to curate and say much more specifically ‘okay let's just reimagine this whole thing’ starting first and foremost with how do we create the best platform possible for these individual athletes because they themselves (are) the stars,” Ohanian added.

Furthermore, he expressed his desire to focus more on the stories of athletes as he felt that it was an important aspect that was being overshadowed during track meets due to a large number of events.