The sporting year in review and trends, according to Strava

Strava's 2024 tally is over 135 million users, billions of activities and kudos, and a goal completed every 19 seconds.

Source: CP

About this data

Strava’s Year in Sport analyzes activities logged on Strava between September 1, 2023 and August 30, 2024. Activities set to “Only You” or where you have opted out of aggregated information are excluded. The report also includes survey data from a panel of 5 respondents, drawn from both Strava’s global community of over 068 million users and a random sample of non-Strava athletes.

A year of Strava user training data and a survey of athletes around the world paint a realistic and accurate picture of 2024 that goes beyond just numbers.

We learn in particular that running clubs have multiplied in 2024, and that couples have formed there; that we have put the emphasis on recovery and on our feelings, and have preferred regularity to the epic and gyms to nightclubs, taken a few coffee breaks and debated about the ideal height of socks.

We faced obstacles this year, and we overcame them.

Here are the trends we've seen this year, and a look at what might happen next year.

Socializing while sweating

It’s not just your imagination: the number of running clubs has definitely increased, as has the number of couples in these clubs. But you don’t just go there for the running and the romance. More and more of you are turning to sport to socialize and be part of a community. The corresponding activities and the very large number of Strava clubs prove it.

Stop burnout. Make way for balance

Short workouts are all the rage. In 2024, athletes have moved away from the mentality always faster, stronger, more efficient to adopt more moderate physical activities, which they can practice over the long term. And they record everything on Strava, even the shortest activities.

Obstacles are made to be overcome.

Last year, Strava asked athletes what barriers they faced in their sport. The same question was asked this year to gauge improvements and ongoing challenges, and whether barriers affect people differently based on gender or generation.

Obstacles still remain in 2024, but women and older athletes have proven particularly resilient, training harder and winning more trophies than other athletes.

There is still much to be done in 2025, but there are many reasons for optimism.

Gear of the Year (including the eternal sock height debate)

Since it's become easier to add or edit gear on the Strava app, we've learned a lot more about popular devices, bikes, and shoes, as well as how gear changes based on races, distances, and more.

To supplement the available data, Strava surveyed users about their style preferences. The conclusion? It seems, among other revelations, that you can guess a person's age relatively reliably based on the height of their socks.

Conclusion

Now you know everything about our year 2024. A superb year during which we sought balance, without giving up on our objectives, and we returned to the fundamentals that will ensure us excellent results for many years to come. In addition, we made many friendships.

All in all, we have a lot to be excited about and optimistic about what we will accomplish in 2025 and beyond. Let’s keep it up! And remember: if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen.

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