Courtesy of Manseen Logan
- I attended Athlos, Alexis Ohanian's all-women track competition.
- Ohanian's venture fund Seven Seven Six hosted the inaugural race, awarding over $500,000.
- It was flashy with Tiffany & Co. crowns, high cash prizes, colorful lights, and lots of music.
For two weeks straight, my Instagram feed was flooded with ads featuring Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian promoting his latest investment, a futuristic women's-only track competition.
I brushed off the first couple of IG posts, but after a while, I became intrigued. What type of track event would a multimillionaire tech founder help to create?
Ohanian calls it Athlos, and his venture fund Seven Seven Six just hosted the inaugural all-woman race on Thursday. Competitors were awarded over $500,000 collectively, with first-place winners earning Tiffany crowns instead of medals or trophies and a $60,000 cash prize. That's double the money typically given to male or female track athletes.
The tech founder turned investor is married to Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes ever. He's also a founding investor and owner of Angel City FC, a soccer team that reportedly just became the world's most valuable women's sports team after Disney's Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay reached a $250 million deal to become controlling owners.
Of course, Ohanian was at the event with one of his daughters. But if anyone thinks he's simply investing to improve women's sports in the future, he made it clear, "It's never about charity or altruism. It's about capitalism."
Since I cover track on my personal time and just reported on the sport at the Paris Olympics, I wanted to see what Ohanian would offer. I attended the first-of-its-kind event at Ichan Stadium in New York, and although it had a few flaws, it was exceptional.