London to Host All-Female Athlos Track Meet in September

London will host a star-studded all-female Athlos athletics meeting on 18 September as founder Alexis Ohanian builds toward his vision of it becoming “F1 for track and field.”

Ohanian, married to tennis legend Serena Williams, announced the London date ahead of the third-year meeting in New York, which takes place two weeks later.

The London event will be held at StoneX Stadium, a 10,500-capacity venue in Barnet used by Saracens rugby union club and home to Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, whose alumni include Olympians Dave Bedford, Daryll Neita, Zharnel Hughes, Ashia Hansen, Natasha Danvers and Yamilé Aldama.

Athlos is wholly owned by Ohanian’s venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, which has $900 million in assets. Competing athletes will receive equity in the league if it succeeds.

Athletes on board include 2023 100m world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson, as well as Paris Games 200m winner Gabby Thomas. They will compete for a prize pool of $2.1 million.

Athletes can earn up to $65,000 per individual event, and overall champions will receive an additional $25,000. An athlete winning in both cities could pocket $155,000.

“I’ve long been very obsessed with this ‘F1 for track and field’ analogy,” Ohanian told the BBC. “We come to expect the fastest cars in the world to tour the greatest global cities, and for people to come out and watch and celebrate this excellence.”

“I envision Athlos to be a version of that and, as we grow this league, I’d love to add more cities and make Athlos truly global,” Ohanian said. “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.”

Unlike American track legend Michael Johnson’s failed Grand Slam Track series, Ohanian is treading more cautiously. After adding its London event in 2026, Ohanian’s ultimate aim is to create a worldwide, season-long league and says he has been in discussions with the sport’s governing body and “great partners” World Athletics.

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 will determine the overall event winner.

Ohanian, who sold Reddit for $10 million in 2006 and has since made a fortune in other investments, has been active in sports ownership.

Last year he invested $27 million in buying 10% of Women’s Super League football team Chelsea.