This week, Strava unveiled its annual "Year In Sport: Trend Report", revealing more about the sporting habits of its 135 million users worldwide.
An ultra-popular application among sports enthusiasts, Strava amasses vast amounts of data over the months thanks to its global community of over 135 million people in more than 190 countries. Each year, Strava unveils its annual report, in which this data is interpreted to provide a more global view of the evolution of sporting practices. By combining this data with information from a random global survey of over 5,000 athletes, both users and non-users of the platform, Strava reveals some interesting figures and trends.
The first is the shortening of sessions and the increase in rest days, particularly among runners preparing for a marathon. More than one-fifth of training sessions lasted less than 20 minutes, enabling a sustainable routine to be maintained, while 51 % of days in the 16 weeks preceding a marathon race were devoted to rest. Overall, "group activities increased by 13 % and included three times as many breaks as solo activities, reflecting a tendency to privilege conversations or coffee breaks during outings" explains Strava in its findings. In the same theme, there was an average increase of 40 % in the duration of activities (running, cycling, hiking) recorded in a group of more than 10 people, compared with solo activities.
Other data revealed by the report: the average pace of a running outing is 6'22''/km and 19.6 km/h for cycling. Weightlifting was the fastest-growing sport among women (+25 % uploads), while the proportion of female cyclists rose by 11 %. On the men's side, yoga or Pilates uploads grew by 15 %. In terms of equipment, the Nike Pegasus was the favorite running shoe of runners, ahead of the Hoka Clifton and the Asics Gel Nimbus.
In fact, Nike is the most popular choice when we take a closer look at the shoes used according to the distances covered. The Nike Alphafly is the model most worn by marathon runners, while the Nike Vaporfly Next is more popular for half-marathons. For bikes, Trek and Specialized are the most popular brands for road, gravel and mountain biking, while it's Trek and Specialized that are the most popular. Garmin Edge 530 which is the counter most used by cyclists. It's also worth noting that 5km runners opted for an Apple Watch, while long-distance enthusiasts preferred the Garmin Forerunner. Finally, as expected, the use of carbon plate shoes continues to grow (+14%).
