Alexis Ohanian Immediately Responds To Gabby Thomas’ News With Big Track & Field Promise

Gabby Thomas broke America’s heart today when she announced that she would not be going to Tokyo. A part of her announcement read, “As an athlete you always want to keep grinding, but sometimes you simply can’t outwork an injury. Sometimes it’s about patience and making the right decision for the long term. All the best to my Team USA teammates fighting for medals in Tokyo.” What happened?

The Achilles injury she had been struggling with this season has finally resulted in the worst case. But track fans stand by her, wishing her recovery, praising her for not wasting a spot. And joining them is Alexis Ohanian with a big track and field promise.

After the news came out, Athlos made a post on X. “Always rooting for @itsgabbyt 💕” with a picture of the 200m Olympic gold medalists. Ohanian quoted the tweet and wrote, “I’ve got a spot for you track-side at ATHLOS this year, Gabby. We’ll miss not having you on the track but get well soon!!” Thomas was one of the 36 elite female athletes included in this women-only track and field showcase last year.

She raced in the 200m at New York’s Icahn Stadium, clocking 22.21s to finish second behind Brittany Brown (22.18s). And now that she is injured, Ohanian wants to take a seat trackside. Athlos received a lot of praise last year, and one of its highlights was the trackside. It featured a club-esque area for VIPs and celebrities, who included Shonda Rhimes, Flavor Flav, Lupita Nyong’o, and “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans.

Justin Gatlin also praised it, saying, “I like how they had the VIP right along trackside…so people can really see how fast these women are. So the crowd went wild when they ran a race.” Thomas would probably love a spot in the trackside this year, especially when she is more than an athlete to Athlos now.

Gabby Thomas advising Ohanian over the Athlos decision

Alexis Ohanian made another tweet today that was retweeted by Gabby Thomas. It said, “🏃‍♀️🏟️ @athlos is re-designing the sport *for* women. Everything from how race bibs are designed to our new advisor-owner council with stars like @itsshacarri, @itsgabbyt, and @tar___ruh, We ask the athletes what they want, then we execute.” This is because Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, and Tara Davis-Woodhall are the founding advisor-owners of Athlos.

“Gabby, Sha’Carri, and Tara represent a new generation of athletes who have put this sport on their shoulders and deserve to be compensated for being the standard-bearers,“ Alexis Ohanian announced back in May. He continued, “We were focused on bringing them into the league as founding owners to ensure we’re building a League that our athletes will love.” And taking advice from the women, he had already reduced the size of the bibs they use.

In the post retweeted by Gabbby, he talked now he is focusing on removing them altogether and has the athlete’s name and number embossed on the kit. Athlos is going back to New York on October 10. And maybe only then, we will see if Gabby Thomas is on the trackside!