London is set to host a star-studded all-female Athlos athletics meeting on 18 September at StoneX Stadium, the home of Saracens rugby union side in Barnet. The event, founded by Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, aims to become the 'F1 for track and field'.
The London leg precedes the New York meeting, now in its third year, which takes place a fortnight later. Athlos is fully owned by Ohanian's venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, with assets of $900m (£670m). Competing athletes will receive equity in the league if it succeeds.
Among the athletes confirmed are 2023 100m world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Sha'Carri Richardson, and Paris Games 200m winner Gabby Thomas. They will compete for a prize pot of $2.1m (£1.5m), with individual event winners earning up to $65,000 and overall champions an additional $25,000.
Seven disciplines will be contested in both London and New York: the 100m hurdles, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, mile, and long jump. An athlete's combined points determine the overall event winner.
Ohanian, who sold Reddit for $10m in 2006, has invested $27m in Chelsea Women's Super League team. He told the BBC: 'We know we're entering into something really ambitious. Ultimately we want to build a league around athletics, which historically has not had commercial success. This is a big moment for us.'
