Torrie Lewis helps herald a new era in athletics at Athlos NYC women's sprint meet
By Simon Smale
Topic:Athletics
Athletics wants to capitalise on its popularity with more prize money for women.
In short:
Serena Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian established Athlos NYC to capitalise on the interest in women's sport.
The track meet's prize money is the largest ever for a women's only athletics event.
Australia's Torrie Lewis finished sixth in the 200m behind Olympic medallists Brittany Brown and Gabby Thomas.
It's been two months since the world's fastest athletes stunned audiences worldwide at the Paris Olympic Games.
But, while the biggest prize in sport is, undoubtably, the medals awarded to the fortunate few at the Stade de France, the biggest monetary prize in athletics was still up for grabs.
At New York's 5,000-capacity Icahn Stadium, women's athletics stepped into a new, lucrative era.
It is a far cry from the 70,000 who packed the stands in Paris, but it's momentous nonetheless, and its organisers will hope it will have an impact that's just as lasting.
Backed by Reddit co-founder and husband of Serena Williams, Alexis Ohanian, Athlos NYC is touted as being a huge step forward for women's athletics.
"People want to watch women's sports," Ohanian said on the broadcast, adding that he knows these women are great and, having watched them star in Paris, so does everyone else.
"But for some reason, after the Olympics, I can't find these women anywhere."
So he has set out to change that, hoping he can do to women's track what he achieved with Angel City FC, the National Women’s Soccer League side which became the world's most valuable women's sports franchise with a landmark new ownership agreement that valued the team at $US250 million ($363 million) earlier this year.
Founder Alexis Ohanian is putting his money behind women's sport.
Six events: 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 100 metres hurdles, 800 metres, and 1,500 metres.
Thirty six women — among them Australian 100m record holder Torrie Lewis.
And a whopping great prize pool of $US500,000 — the largest ever for a women's-only athletics event — plus 10 per cent of all proceeds that will be split among all 36 runners.
That prize money is significant.
Each winner earned $US60,000, double what the winner of the season-ending Diamond League event claimed.
"I asked these women, I was like, 'Hey, so what is your top prize at the end of a season for winning?' And they said $US30,000. And I said, 'Great, I'm going to double it for one single race,'" Ohanian told Reuters prior to the event.
"You just look at the follower counts, you look at the engagement. Women athletes — and in this example, with track — just are way more compelling.
"I don't want to trivialise it, but a huge reason why women's sports has been held back is simply because of an underinvestment. But now it's gotten too valuable to ignore.
"Yes, everyone watches women's sports and now it's just a question of which ones."
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn already has an Olympic gold medal, and now she has a crown too.
The winners of each event will also be awarded a silver crown worth $US25,000 from New York jeweller, Tiffany and Co.
"A crown fit for a queen," regularly proclaimed the host broadcasters.
Overall, this is part of a trend — the prize money that is, not the crown.
American track legend Michael Johnson has announced his own new league, Grand Slam Track, set to start in April 2025 and offering $US100,000 as a top prize.
World Athletics ruffled feathers by announcing it, as a governing body, would offer $US50,000 worth of prize money to its Olympic champions, and will also host a biennial Ultimate Championships starting in 2026, with prize money of $US150,000.
The Diamond League also announced that it would increase prize money from next season to an overall prize pool of $US9.24 million.
"This is bigger than myself and it's bigger than this race," US track star Gabby Thomas told Reuters.
"It's about what we're doing for women's sports and what this event, in particular, means for women's sport and for track and field."
It's not just about the racing, either.
Olympic finalist Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith of Côte d'Ivoire won the 100m.
Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion performed on a stage set up mid-way down the home straight, while a who's who of women's sport's patrons were also in attendance — including rapper Flavor Flav, who helped fund the US women's water polo team.
"We have a stage right in the middle of the track – that’s not very typical for a track meet and I think it's really exciting," said 200m Olympic champion Thomas.
"It's going to be an experience for the spectators. I think track really needs that."
The on track action certainly featured enough star power.
Paris Olympic 400m champion Marileidy Paulino cruised to victory in the one-lap, while 2021 champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won over the hurdles.
Three-time Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon, as expected, streaked away from the field to win her pet event — she's not been beaten over the distance since June 2021.
Faith Kipyegon is the undoubted queen of middle distance running.
The event culminated with the star American attraction, reigning Olympic champion Thomas, in the 200m, who was up against bronze medallist Brittany Brown and Australia's teenage star Lewis.
Brown somewhat upstaged Thomas, striding past her to claim the victory — and the crown — down the final stretch of the home straight.
Lewis trailed home in sixth place in 23.53, ending a very long season for the 19-year-old that has included an Olympic semifinal and World U20 silver.
She leaves New York with a more modest $US2,500 cheque, but bucket loads of experiences.
Torrie Lewis was up against a tremendous field in New York.
Lewis has spent the last three weeks with Thomas, learning from a three-time gold medallist.
"On the track she has a tenacity that she brings to training sessions that I would also like to adopt and even though she is an Olympic champion, she's also very humble in herself," Lewis told Athletics Australia.
"This is absolutely the highest level I have ever trained at, being with an Olympic gold medallist.
"Off the track she has a very balanced life and I think that's how she's kept her love of track.
“The fact that [this race is] in New York and that after this race I can be fully done; I can properly enjoy my time in a city like this.
"What I am most proud of this year is probably just achieving everything I set out to do."
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