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() It may sound like a morning radio show bit, but the organizers of the first-ever “sperm race” wouldn’t be surprised if the competition was included in the 2028 Olympics.
Here’s why it’s happening and how it works.
In the past 50 years, men in the U.S. have seen a 50% decrease in their sperm count, a figure that accounts for 30% of all infertility cases. More than 40% of men, however, are never evaluated when a couple is struggling with infertility.
Entrepreneurs Eric Zhu, Nick Small, Shane Fan and Garret Niconienko want to change that.
“So, I came up with this idea last year when I was with a bunch of health people and they were talking about sperm,” Zhu told . “And I was like, ‘Oh, it’d be kind of sick to race sperm.’”
As Zhu looked into the idea further, he found a cause.
“What’s interesting is that sperm is an aggregate biomarker,” he said. “So the faster your sperm is, the healthier you are. The better you sleep, the better you eat, all correlate to the speed of your sperm.”
Samples are collected from two people, then diluted, cleaned and put in a fluid that pushes the current to the sperm in order to make them swim.
Or, as Zhu simplified: “Think about this as like Formula 1 racing but for sperm.”
To raise awareness about declining male fertility and also a chance to win $10,000 Tristan of USC and Asher of UCLA will be the main event at Los Angeles Center Studios on April 25.
“Fertility has declined in the last 50 years, and it’s still declining,” said Zhu. “There’s this dystopian future where people won’t be able to make babies, and the reason for that is because sperm has always been considered a very taboo concept, right? We’re trying to change the paradigm of sperm with this event and make it more mainstream.”
As for the future of sperm racing, Zhu said a lot of casinos have “already reached out.” However, they are unsure if that is the future.
“I mean, you know, we could see this in the Olympics in a few years.”
The event is 18-plus, and tickets are available.