© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Athletics Illustrated Magazine had its biggest year in traffic since its inception in 2010.
The most read of 2024
For the calendar year 2024, several stories gripped the reader’s attention. A small handful of the stories went viral, with website visitors sharing via social media and cohort publications citing articles to inform their own reports.
1. Ruth Chepngetich’s marathon world record
The most-read story during 2024 was the one published on Monday, October 14 titled, “Opinion: Ruth Chepngetich’s Chicago Marathon performance is a historic red-flag moment in the sport of athletics.”
Shortly after publication, a well-known, longtime editor from the U.S. sent an email to applaud the op-ed.
“Chris: I’m trying to get other serious running editors to take a stand. It’s important. So far, you’re leading the way.
Well done!
Best.”
Two weeks’ worth of traffic happened that Monday.
The quote read around the world:
Three-time Olympian and two-time fourth-place finisher in the Athens and Sydney Olympic Marathons Jon Brown wrote on social media, “This performance is criminality pure and simple. Cheating and stealing from other athletes, defrauding events, and damaging the viability of elite running events. If anyone wants to see how ridiculous this performance is just compare it to equivalent performances on the iaaf scoring table, 2:09:56 is worth 1339 points.”
Website visitors continue to seek out the story more than two months later. In part, Let’s Run drove traffic to the story from the popular website’s homepage.
2. Netflix got into the game
On July 5, the Netflix series review of Sprint: The World’s Fastest Humans was published. While the Chepngetich story was the most-read article and most-viewed opinion piece, Sprint was the review, (product, book, or movie/series) of the year.
Sprint was timed well. People around North America had the Paris Olympics on their minds. Sprinting is the most popular part of athletics in the Olympic Games and athletics is the most viewed sport.
While Sprint’s pinnacle moment was the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships, the sequel, Sprint 2 captured the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
It can be assumed that the sprint portion of the Olympics had more viewers knowing that Sprint 2 would dramatize the buildup, emotions, and broader effect of winning and losing.
3. The day Kenyans lost their minds
On April 1, Kenyans lost their minds when they read that Eliud Kipchoge announced that he would not defend his Olympic title.
“Eliud Kipchoge announces he will not defend his Olympic title in Paris”
One writer in particular — a “Karen,” as it were — submitted a scathing letter:
She wrote, “As a dedicated follower of sports news, I was shocked and dismayed to see such a misleading and inappropriate joke being played on your platform.” Perhaps, it would be wise if “Karen,” did not read Let’s Run or Pulse Sports News as well. Both publications “played,” the very same April Fool’s joke on the very same athlete.
Perhaps the scathing letter written by a person named, “Karen,” was also an April Fool’s joke. Regardless, Kenyans lost their minds as it seemed the entire Rift Valley was in a rift over the joke. Traffic from Kenya can spike when a fellow countryperson wins or gets caught doping. This story had the biggest spike from Kenya in several years.
4. WikipediaGate by Camille Herron
On September 23, an article titled, “Camille Herron caught manipulating Wikipedia information on herself and editing Killian Jornet’s profile” garnered enough traffic to publish a second article about the fallout from the unsportsmanlike conduct headlined, “The fallout from the Camille Herron and Conor Holt WikipediaGate has begun.”
The fallout, the moral crime and poor sportsmanship echoed around the global ultramarathon community. If the narcissistic pair of Herron and Connor Holt wanted more notoriety, they got their 15 minutes of fame. Congratulations to them.
Competitiveness among ultramarathon runners will never be viewed the same again.
Again, Let’s Run had a part to play in the traffic surge around this story.
5. Yohan Blake on his comeback
Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake, once again on the comeback at age 34 for some reason attracted attention. Perhaps Athletics Illustrated Magazine is the only publication to carry the story. For whatever reason, website visitors were very interested in Blake’s potential comeback.
Blake wrote on social media, “The journey continues. Focused, determined, and back where I belong. Stay tuned for what’s next. With God, all things are possible.”
…but not guaranteed.
Back to the restaurant for this one-time great 9.69-second sprinter.
Doping
Athletics Illustrated once known mostly for Canadian content, then long-form interviews, seems to have drawn the most traffic in 2024 from doping news. The news around doping, especially from Kenya and the fine work of the Athletics Integrity Unit, provides a steady stream of traffic. Fascination and horror leachate from the once-considered sacred running land of Kenya. The reality of violence, domestic abuse, doping, tampering, and cheating by any means is shocking.
The bloom is off the rose of Kenya.
Athletics fans are concerned.
All the best this holiday season
Athletics Illustrated Magazine looks to continue to hold authority’s feet to the fire, uncover truths and report on the highs and lows of the sport of athletics. Whether it be governance, anti-doping, event organization or the myriad of personalities that colour the game. There are a million new variations of the strange and miraculous athletics stories under the sun.
Athletics Illustrated would like to wish the constant as well as the transient readers all the best this holiday season and a prosperous 2025.
