Athlos cash award has set the bar on how to treat stars

Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon got a Sh7.7 million prize after winning the Athlos NYC women-only meet. [AFP]

On Thursday night, a track meeting like no other—the Athlos NYC—was staged inside Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States of America.

That was the first-ever Athlos NYC meet, and it awarded the highest prize purse in history. It also hosted exciting races, Megan Thee Stallion, and Tiffany crowns instead of medals.

It invited many big shots with Olympic gold medallists Faith Kipyegon (1500 meters) and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic (400 meters), earning big wins.

Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and husband to Serena Williams, the former world tennis Number One, sponsored the event. Kipyegon won 1500m, Olympic 800m bronze medalist Mary Moraa finished second while Susan Ejore settled for fourth place in 1500m.

Winners took home $60,000 (Sh7.7m), second place claimed $25,000 (Sh3.2m), and third place received $10,000 (Sh1.3m), with $8,000 (Sh1m) for fourth, $5,000 (Sh645,000) for fifth, and $2,500 (Sh322,000) for sixth place.

The participants also earned more through the meet’s unique giveback programme in which 10 per cent of all revenue from ticketing, commercial sponsorship and broadcast was redistributed to all competitors. Ohanian also rewarded those who earned Olympic gold medals in Paris with an additional $60,000 (Sh7.7m).

In addition to this historic prize structure, Ohanian elevated the meet experience with a concert from three-time Grammy winner Megan Thee Stallion. And each athlete was introduced with their own walk-out song played by DJ Derrick “D’Nice” Jones.

Ohanian hoped to make the competition’s prize purse the biggest in the history of track and field contests globally – which superseded the $30,000 (Sh3.9m) for the winners of the World Athletics Diamond League Trophies awarded in Brussels a fortnight ago. He had a feeling that the payout should be directly correlated or related to the sort of scale and scope of the event itself and, he said, decided to address the lack of media coverage and broadcast opportunities outside the Olympic cycle.

American Brittany Brown was the biggest winner at the Athlos meet, finishing second in 100 metres and upsetting Olympic champion Gabby Thomas to win 200 meters. Brown collected $85,000 (Sh11m) in winnings.

The meet was later renamed Athlos—tthe Greek word, which means “contest or trial” in relation to athletic performances. Such a gesture should give some impetus for the Kip Keino Classic meet and the World Athletics Continental meet in Nairobi.

Athletics Kenya and sponsors as well as World Athletics should take cue and improve prize money to attract more global track and field top guns.

While we appreciate that this meet stands out as Africa’s biggest meet after the Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco, we can still take it higher.