"Motivating the hell out of me" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian reacts to massive support for his latest track meet venture Athlos

Serena Williams' husband and entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian recently opened up on the massive support for his track meet venture Athlos. Athlos NYC is a female only track event that was inaugurated in September 2024 at New York City.

Recently, a user on X [formerly Twitter] commented on the influence that Athlos NYC held. The user posted back to back posts praising the track meet with the following caption,

"Let’s wrap up this year in track and field! Unexpected moment of the year _____________ Relay leg of the year _____________ Best innovation in 2024 __________ Things to be left in 2024 __________ Unsung hero of 2024 ___________ Emotional moment of the year __________ So many votes for @athlos @alexisohanian!"

Ohanian thanked the user as he responded by stating:

"THANK YOU! This is motivating the hell out of me to do even better in 2025"

Ohanian has been supporting women's sports for a long time. He is one of the stakeholders in the women's soccer club Angel City FC, which competes in the National Women's Soccer League.

However, it was with the Athlos meet, that Alexis Ohanian took the big plunge in terms of investing in women's sports. Initially referred to as the '776 Invitational', the women's only-track meet was inaugurated on September 26 at the Icahn Stadium in New York City. 36 athletes from all around the world participated in six track events, where each winner would receive a minimum of $60000.

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Alexis Ohanian on his motive behind launching a women's only track meet

Alexis Ohanian on his motive behind launching women's only track meet [Image Source : Getty]

Alexis Ohanian had attended the US Olympic trials before the Paris Olympics. It was from this event that he found the inspiration to launch a women's only track event.

In a podcast interview with Justin Gatlin on his YouTube channel 'Ready Set Go!', Ohanian stated,

"I had never been to a track meet before and then I went to my first one in Eugene. I saw the (Olympic) Qualifiers and so that was incredible right. I was like ‘okay this is so exhilarating’, and then I'm watching Tara (Davis-Woodhall) who is so dynamic, she's such a star and she has her section of the stadium all gassed up for one of her jumps but at the same time there's like a race going on. And as a casual sort of first-timer, I'm torn between two storylines that I know I should be paying attention to."

Ohanian further added that his focus was to shed more light on the stories of athletes, because in his opinion, this was an important aspect that was overshadowed because of the cluttered schedule for the track and field.

"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 said.

Several top athletes competed at the Athlos NYC, including Olympic medalists Gabby Thomas, Masai Russell, Brittany Brown and Faith Kipyegon.