Williams, Goule chase big bucks at ATHLOS meeting

Jamaica's Danielle Williams and Natoya Goule will take a shot at US$60,000 in a crack 100 metres hurdles and the 800 metres, respectively, at the inaugural Athlos Meeting in the United States which also feature big-name entertainers. Action will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Icahn Stadium in Randall's Island, New York.

The meet, loaded with star power, is sponsored by Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and the husband of United States tennis star Serena Williams.

For the athletes to even take the starting line, an assist goes to Alex Morgan and the rest of her 2019 World Cup-winning United States soccer squad. Another assist to basketball standouts Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese as well. Because Ohanian was told nobody tunes in for women's sports.

He begged to differ. It led to the launch of Athlos, which will dole out more than $500,000 in total prize money and split 10 per cent of all proceeds among the athletes. There's also a performance by Grammy Award-winning singer Megan Thee Stallion.

"We're outsiders to the sport of track and field and so we come in with a pretty humble approach. Our number one priority is doing right by these athletes," Ohanian said of an event that is funded by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm he formed.

"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."

The meet has the biggest prize money ever in the sport of track and field for female athletes, with the winner of the six events each guaranteed US$60,000 (J$9,419,760).

That is double the US$30,000 earned by Diamond League champions.

Lucrative prize money is also guaranteed to competitors, with second place netting US$25,000 (J$3,924,900), third US$10,000 (J$1,569,960), fourth $8,000 (J$1,255,968), fifth US$5,000 (J$784,980) and sixth-place finishers receiving US$2,500 (J$392,490).

In addition, the respective winners will receive a Tiffany and Company crown instead of gold medals.

Competition will be limited to 36 elite all-female participants in six events. Those women have tallied some 30 Olympic medals.

The events down to be contested are the 100 metres, 100-metre hurdles, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and 1500 metres.

This season, the women's 100m hurdles has attracted most attention at the various meets over the world and it will be no different as Williams, the World champion, looking to upstage her rivals.

Olympic champion Masai Russell of the United States, who pulled out of the Diamond League finals, will be hoping to end the season on a high. She is the second fastest woman in the event this season with her personal best 12.25 seconds, behind Jamaican Ackera Nugent's 12.24.

After a bronze medal placing at the Olympics, Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho Quinn said in an interview that she was thrown off by the starter, as she thought there would have been a recall of the race. Camacho Quinn will be gunning to get things right this time around. At the Diamond League finals she was an impressive winner in 12.38 seconds.

The United States' Alysha Johnson, who was the most impressive athlete in the semifinals at the Paris Olympics, failed to replicate that form in the finals where she was seventh. Tonight she gets another chance to make things right in this, the final race of the season.

For her, a women's only meet feels like the perfect way to close out a long season that's included Diamond League races, the United States Olympic trials and the Paris Games.

"It just makes us feel like we're at the forefront," Johnson said. "Everything is centred around us."

Also included in the 100m hurdles line-up will be former world record (12.20) holder, Keni Harrison of the United States, who will be hoping for an upset.

Olympic Games 800-metre semifinalist Natoya Goule-Toppin will be hoping to finish her season in style after failing to reach the final of the 800 in Paris. She will have the likes of Olympic Games silver medallist Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia and bronze medallist Mary Moraa of Kenya to contend with.

Olympic Games gold medallist Gabby Thomas of the United States will take on countrywoman Brittany Brown, the Olympic bronze medallist and Diamond League champion in the 200 metres. Also in the line-up are the United States' Jenna Prandini and Tamara Clarke.

In the 400m, Olympic Games gold medallist and Diamond League champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic will be hoping to continue her impressive form this season. Her major threat should come from Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, who was second in Paris, along with sixth-place finisher Alex Holmes of the United States. The Netherlands' Lieke Klaver and the United States' Shamier Little are also down to contest the event.

The outstanding Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, the Olympic Games champion and world record holder, will headline the 1500 metres where she is expected to face competition from Olympic Games finalists, Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay and Diribe Welteji, and Kenya's Susan Ejore-Sanders.

Athlos, a Greek word that translates into "athlete", will air on the X platform, YouTube and ESPN-plus, along with a rebroadcast on ESPN2 over the weekend.