Olympic Gold Medalist Masai Russell: ‘Sad’ It Took Until Now to Promote Women’s Track

Alexis Ohanian’s women’s track brainchild Athlos finally comes to fruition Thursday with an event in New York City. 

The meet, which is independent of USA Track & Field, is notable for its big prize pool ($663,000 total, including $60,000 per winner, far more than what athletes get on the Diamond League circuit) and broadcast distribution deals (ESPN+, YouTube, DAZN, and X/Twitter will all show the meet).

For Masai Russell, who won a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles at this summer’s Paris Olympics, this kind of event—with this level of media visibility—has been a long time coming. And she’s convinced the interest and viewer appetite justifies the event.

“When you go on ESPN you see basketball basketball basketball, football football football,” she said in an interview in the Front Office Sports studio this week. “But track is on, you just don’t know where to find it… So now that we have the eyes aligned with the team that’s trying to show us to the world, I feel like it’s just going to continue to blow. I just think it’s kind of unfortunate that someone outside of the track space had to really realize that and understand the growth that our sport is capable of. It’s just sad.”

The “someone outside of the track space” Russell is talking about is Alexis Ohanian, the Reddit cofounder whose venture firm Seven Seven Six funded Athlos. (He might still be best known as Mr. Serena Williams). 

Ohanian has rapidly grown his women’s sports portfolio in recent years. He was a founding owner of Angel City FC, which was recently sold to Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, for a league-record $250 million, and has also invested in The Sports Bra, the first dedicated women’s sports bar, which recently announced plans to franchise. This summer, Ohanian and Flavor Flav helped pay rent for Olympic discus thrower Veronica Fraley.

Athlos CMO Kayla Green told FOS track events are often limited by the viewership platforms on which they are presented, and Athlos wants the New York meet to score the “highest ratings in the history of a women’s only track event.” Distribution on ESPN+, YouTube, X/Twitter, sports streaming app DAZN, and a re-air the day after the event on ESPN2, should ensure that it’s not difficult for viewers to find the meet.

“We have not even hit the goals that we all want,” Green said. “The work is just beginning, but this is how it starts.”