Millions Faith Kipyegon will earn from Serena Williams’ husband’s women-only event

Faith Kipyegon became the latest athlete to agree to feature at the Athlos NYC women’s-only track event inspired by Serena Williams husband and there are big cash rewards in store.

Multiple world and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon became the latest athlete to sign up for the Athlos NYC, a women’s-only track event.

The event is a brainchild of tennis legend Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian who is taking a bet at athletics after succeeding in other ventures.

Ohanian is betting big on women considering the biggest track stars in the world right now are the female gender and after making world 200m silver medallist Gabby Thomas the first athlete to sign up, he added Kipyegon and world 400m champion Alexis Holmes.

There is hope that other superstars such as Sha’Carri Richardson, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Athing Mu will join with the inaugural event set to gun off at Icahn Stadium in New York City on September 26, 2024.

There is every reason to join since the event will be paying six times more than what track stars earn for winning a Diamond League race.

Winning an Athlos event will see an athlete pocket $60,000 (Ksh7.6 million) while second place will attract $25,000 (Ksh3.1 million), third place $10,000 (Ksh1.2 million), fourth place $8,000 (Ksh1 million), fifth place fetching $5,000 (Ksh635,598) as sixth attracts a prize of $2,500 (Ksh317,799).

By contrast, Diamond League winners take home $10,000 (Ksh1.2 million) with champions at the season finale awarded $30,000 (Ksh3.8 million).

It is enough motivation for the athletes although Kipyegon has said her main aim is not monetary but inspirational.

“So happy to announce that I will be competing at Icahn Stadium in New York City at the inaugural Athlos NYC event in September. It’s with this event that I hope we can inspire women around the world to be the strongest version of themselves,” Kipyegon said via an Instagram post.

The Athlos NYC will feature the 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 800m and 1500m with Ohanian looking forward to making the event even much bigger to earn the athletes more.

“All that takes is a will and dollars,” he said, as quoted by the New York Times. “If that’s the top prize money, think of all the other athletes who cannot professionally do this sport.”

“So how much are we missing in the array of talent? How much you’re gonna get, if we actually professionalize this a bit more. That just makes it appealing. And no one should be complacent with a $60,000 top prize. This is just a starting point and how we now work to build the infrastructure.”