In what organizers are calling the “world’s first” sperm race, a group of teenage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles staged a microscopic sporting event aimed at spotlighting declining male fertility. The competition was held at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday and was described as a unique effort to raise awareness through spectacle.
$1.5 Million Raised by Students
According to the report, “four teenage entrepreneurs from the United States, raised $1.5 million (£1.13 million) to stage the Sperm Racing event.” The race itself involved sperm samples taken from two healthy university students and placed on a track “eight inches (20cm) long and modelled on the female reproductive system.”
The event was complete with “livestreams, instant replays and even live odds,” and saw one competitor “sprayed with a liquid resembling semen” after his sperm lost the race.
The Champion: “Tristan Milker”
Tristan Mykel, 20, a University of Southern California student who went by the alias “Tristan Milker,” referred to himself as a “fertility athlete” and took home the title. His sperm sample beat that of 19-year-old Asher Proeger, a student from the University of California.
How the Race Worked
A man “in a lab coat used pipettes to place samples of semen – collected from contestants ahead of time – on 2mm long ‘tracks’.” These tracks were then “magnified 100 times by a microscope, filmed by a camera that transferred the image to 3D animation software before the final video was broadcast to the audience.”
Spectators watched the action unfold on screen, with one attendee, Felix Escobar, 20, saying: “There’s no way to really tell if this is real, but I want to believe it is.”
Fertility Fears and Pro-Natalist Echoes
Eric Zhu, the 17-year-old high schooler who created the concept, said: “There could be this dystopian future where no one will be able to make babies.” Zhu’s concerns align with some themes of the pro-natalist movement, a group that includes “conservative and far-right political figures.”
However, Zhu clarified: “I have nothing to do with this, I’m not like an Elon Musk, who wants to repopulate the Earth.”
Musk, described as “a close ally of US president Donald Trump,” has “been vocal about his belief that population decline threatens the West” and has fathered “over a dozen children with multiple women.”
Zhu added, “It’s your choice to sleep earlier. It’s your choice to stop doing drugs. It’s your choice to eat healthier, and all these different things have a significant kind of impact on your motility.”
Policy Proposals and Scientific Debate
The article notes that “Donald Trump’s administration is said to be mulling a series of incentives to encourage women to have more children and push conservative family values,” including a “National Medal of Motherhood” for mothers of six or more, and a $5,000 payment to every new mother.
While sperm count data is debated, “birth rates, however, have fallen in several countries, raising concerns about ageing and declining populations.”
Dr. Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, co-authored research cited by Zhu and argued that “the proliferation of ‘hormonally active chemicals’ in recent years has had a negative impact on human fertility.”
Part Science, Part Satire
Despite its scientific framing, the event had a comedic and sensational tone. “Beneath the scientific veneer, the sperm race may seem more like an opportunity for college students to display their adolescent humour and participate in a viral stunt.”
Some spectators “dressed in costumes, including one resembling male genitals,” and the hosts “made lewd jokes and made fun of the competitors.”
The YouTube livestream of the event “attracted more than 100,000 views,” proving that whether for awareness or amusement, the sperm race captured public attention.
