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Masai Russell has opened up about how Alexis Ohanian's women-only event impacted the world of track & field.
Masai Russell has opened up on why Alexis Ohanian's Athlos, a first-of-its-kind all-women's track and field meet that offered the biggest prize purse in track and field, brought relief to athletes post-Olympics.
The 2024 Paris 100m hurdles gold medalist said the Athlos September event, coming just a month after the Paris show, was meant to make people understand that track and field events exist beyond the Olympic Games.
The meet hosted Olympic champions such as Gabby Thomas, Faith Kipyegon, and Alexis Holmes and World Athletics granted the meet silver status, meaning all 36 competitors could earn ranking points for their world standing.
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08:59 - 30.10.2024
'I don't know how much sleep I got' - Masai Russell reveals her thought process the night before winning Olympic gold in 100m hurdles
She recorded 12.33 seconds, edging home fevourite Cyrena Samba-Mayela by just 0.01s while defending champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn came third
"After the Olympics, Ohanian puts this meet on...so it's like alright after the Olympics a month later we are doing this big meet so that people know track is still going on post-Olympic games," she said on X platform, formerly Twitter.
Ohanian's epic prize purse had the winners of each event earning $60,000. No track and field meet has ever provided a prize amount of that size. Even the Diamond League, track and field's most elite series of competition, only offered $30,000 for the winners during the final league competition of the year.
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15:49 - 21.10.2024
'US trials is like the Olympics within itself' - Masai Russell reveals crucial role trials played in her 100m hurdles Paris glory
Russell, 24, boasts a personal best of 12.25 seconds in her specialty.
"Track has so much talent and so many beautiful women in the sport, but I just feel like we don't always get the credibility that we deserve. Track and field is one of the most watched during the Olympics but throughout the four years it's like no one else knows what's going on. So I think that for Alexis, he just understood that there's something that can be done for us that can be shown to the world, essentially."
The Athlos was held at the Icahn stadium in New York. The event was broadcast live on YouTube, X, ESPN+, and DAZN, and was also re-broadcast on ESPN 2.
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