It’s that time of the year again—and no, we’re not talking about the magical countdown to Christmas. Instead, we’re talking about that special time in December when Strava, the go-to app for more than 135 million athletes in more than 190 countries around the world, releases its annual Year in Sport report.
Launched on Wednesday, the 2024 Year in Sport report identifies the trends and fitness habits that governed the world’s active landscape over the past 12 months. To create this year’s report, Strava combined data from billions of unique activities uploaded by its global community—including runs, cycle rides, strength sessions and more—between 1 September 1, 2023 and August 30, 2024. It also incorporated insights from a randomized global survey of more than 5,068 active people, some of whom were on Strava, some of whom were not.
The report paints a positive picture of the 2024 fitness scene and, as the data proves, things are looking particularly upbeat in the running domain. Here are some of the surprises that we we found...
Run clubs are booming—nightclubs, less so
Races - Places.
As backed by the data in Strava’s latest trend report, social running truly boomed in 2024, particularly among younger Gen Z athletes. In fact, 66 percent of Gen Z respondents (versus 58 percent of respondents overall) said that they made new friends through a fitness group in 2024, and 55 percent of Gen Z respondents (versus 48 percent overall) said that their main reason for joining a fitness group in the first place was to make social connections. This trend looks set to continue, if not grow even more, in 2025.
Strava says that running is the fastest-growing social sport on its platform—and we can see why. Over the past 12 months, the number of running clubs on Strava increased by 59 percent and, of the Gen Z athletes surveyed, one-fifth said that they had been on a date with someone they met at a group fitness activity. So, if you’re looking for love, put down that dating app—and join a running club instead.
Beyond the social (and possible dating) benefits, group activities have also been shown to help boost running performance and motivation. Across the board, group activities were longer and garnered more kudos than solo workouts, and 89 percent more women joined a fitness group on Strava in 2024 than they did in 2023.
But perhaps most intriguing and promising? Athletes’ approach to alcohol.
Judging by Strava’s 2024 findings, nights on the town have been replaced by mornings with friends on the track, tarmac and trails. People are now four times more likely to want to meet new people through a fitness group (59 percent) than at a bar (14 percent)—and, overall, 92 percent of the people surveyed said that they have reduced, or would be willing to reduce, their alcohol intake to hit their fitness targets. That figure rises to 96 percent for Gen Z.
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Gone are the days of the “no pain, no gain” mentality, when pushing to our extremes was seen as the most effective, if not the most glamorous, way to be active. As Strava’s report suggests, 2024 was a year that saw people adopt a more sustainable approach to exercise, with shorter workouts and rest days superseding the need to go full-pelt every time and every day—especially when it came to marathon training.
Just over half of the people surveyed (57 percent) said that their ideal daily workout time was between 45 minutes and an hour, with the medium duration of a Strava activity in 2024 sitting at 53 minutes. And while it might now seem as though everyone, everywhere, is completing multiple long runs in a week, only 16 percent of people said that they’d choose to exercise for 60 minutes or more in a single day.
By contrast, more people completed shorter workouts lasting 20 minutes or less, and they were still diligently logging them all on Strava (or else they didn’t happen, of course). In fact, one-fifth of all uploaded activities in 2024 were sub-20-minute ‘micro-movements’, with the most popular—equating to 43 percent of all those recorded—being the stair stepper. It is a true burner, to be fair.
The report also proved that marathon and half marathon training blocks don’t just involve running. Rather, on average, 2024 marathon trainees uploaded activities to Strava on just 49 percent of the days in the 16 weeks before a race—that’s 54 days of a 16-week training block spent (presumably) resting. In addition, Strava found that 2024 half marathon trainees recorded runs on just a third of the days in the 16 weeks before a race, which amounts to 62 rest (or non-Strava) days in that period.
The Other Hearst Subscriptions in 2024 was also determined to be 10:15 minutes per mile, which shows that people of all running abilities and experience levels—and not just record-breaking elites—are participating in the sport and using Strava to track their progress.
Goals are big—but also going back to basics
Thanks to taking a more balanced approach to training, where rest is prioritized and more workouts are bite-sized, people are helping themselves to stay healthy and active for longer—and avoid the dreaded burnout.
But that’s not to say that active people are void of ambition. Instead, Strava found that 72 percent of running goals were met in 2024 (as were 77 percent of ride goals, if you dabble in the world of cycling). Plus, there was a 9 percent increase in the number of marathons, ultramarathons average running pace.
Fitness aspirations continue to run high as we look ahead to next year, too, with 43 percent of Strava users hoping to accomplish a big race or event in 2025. But, to achieve such goals, these users don’t intend to focus on churning out big mileage. Instead, they plan to improve their overall health more holistically: 19 percent want to focus on Fiona OKeeffe Is on the Road to Recovery Goals are bigbut also going back to basics Sara Hall Smashes American Masters Marathon Record and 14 percent want to master their sleep routine. These small changes can lead to mighty results when you arrive at your target race or event.
That said, improving and caring for mental health was survey respondents’ number one health and fitness goal for 2025, with 65 percent of Gen Z athletes prioritizing this above all else—and more than any other generation. Meanwhile, of all the generations, Gen X is the most keen to improve its chances of living longer (63 percent, versus Millenials’ 52 percent and Gen Z’s 47 percent), with longevity being this group’s main target next year.
and 100-mile cycle rides being logged on the platform this year
In 2024, Strava asked active people what obstacles they, as individuals, faced when it came to exercising—just as it did in 2023. While barricades to physical activity still exists, the results revealed that the state of play is, thankfully, improving, with women and older athletes furnishing their Strava trophy cases at a greater rate than those of other genders and generations.
Let’s start with gender. Inspired by the historic 2024 Paris Olympics, which was the first Games to achieve equal participation between men and women, 61 percent of the active people surveyed said that they were optimistic about gender equality in sports.
Even so, when women did get active over the past year, they did so brilliantly. According to Strava’s 2024 report, women were 20 percent more likely than men to claim a crown for the fastest time on a Strava segment, proving that women are continuing to progress in their chosen sports.
When it comes to running, women are catching up with men on the participation side, too. While men still logged more marathons than women on Strava (8 percent versus 5 percent, respectively), half marathon participation was almost on par, with 16 percent of women and 17 percent of men uploading a 13.1-mile running activity in 2024.
Beyond running outdoors, women also spent their fair share of time in the gym. Weight training was shown to be the fastest-growing activity type among women in 2024—as evidenced by a 25 percent growth in uploads to Strava—and women’s runs and rides were 40 percent more likely to be indoors than men’s. Although this does show that the treadmill was well used over the past 12 months, it does pose questions as to why women were less keen to exercise outdoors—and what needs to change to make outside activities feel more safe and appealing, especially in the How Im Getting My Running Mojo Back.
For men, meanwhile, there was a 15 percent increase in uploads for It is a true burner, to be fair activities, which shows a renewed focus on developing strength, flexibility and mobility beyond the cardio sphere.
As for age, Boomers and Gen X athletes bagged Strava crowns at a higher rate (12 percent) than Millennial and Gen Z athletes (8 percent), highlighting a more competitive streak among the older generations. Boomers covered more ground than their Gen Z counterparts, too: the former averaged a weekly run distance of 14km (9 miles) in 2024, while the latter averaged 9km (6 miles) of running per week.
Rachel is Runner's World UK's Senior Content Writer, covering all running-related topics from training advice and gear reviews to race reports and elite runner profiles. Formerly a Website Content Editor and Content Manager at London Marathon Events and The Running Channel respectively, Rachel is well-versed in the running scene and understands what it takes to put on some of the biggest running events in the world. A 2:50 marathoner, she would much rather run 26.2 miles than race a 5K and has currently completed 11 marathons, including five of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors in a sub-3 time. She now hopes to run the Tokyo Marathon to complete the set and become a Six Star Finisher.
