Based on data for its permitted events across the United States, national governing body USA Triathlon (USAT) has released its 2024 Impact Report, highlighting recent triathlon participation trends.
The 2024 Impact Report has been released alongside a separate analysis of triathlon participation data in the USA, undertaken by Thom Richmond and Ben McClure of Cal Tri Events.
Both analyses are aligned, and based on similar datasets, which focus on participation in permitted USAT events. USAT’s 2024 Impact Report showcases the market performance in 2024 versus 2023; while the Cal Tri Events’ study takes a longer-term view.
USA Triathlon 2024 Impact Report
USAT notes that total adult participation in triathlon has been declining since the peak of the sport in the early 2010s. Yet, the organisation does point to a rebound in participation since the Covid pandemic, which after all dealt a blow to so many mass participation events in 2020 and 2021.
In addition, USA Triathlon points out that its membership numbers have seen the most significant growth in two age demographics: 20-29 and 30-39. This helps to offset an ageing demographic within triathlon and signals more positive long-term opportunities for athlete participation.
Overall, total triathlon participation reached 302,000 in 2024 – as a combination of USAT adult & youth annual members and adult 1-day licences. (This is effectively finisher data, combining annual USAT members, as unique individuals, alongside total race starts via 1-day licences for non-USAT members.)
The 2024 figures are up 1.6% on 2023, but remain below USAT’s pre-Covid figure of 329,000 in 2019.
Cal Tri Events analysis
With all data independently gathered from public sources, Cal Tri Events’ analysis is on USA Triathlon data, i.e., permitted events that are affiliated with the national governing body and utilising its race insurance package.
This means that figures from the Cal Tri analysis and USA Triathlon 2024 Impact Report are broadly aligned. (Cal Tri points out that in the coming months it will share a subsequent analysis of the remainder of the event marketplace, i.e., tracking those events that are not permitted with USAT.)
The Cal Tri team has taken a longer-term view on the trends for triathlon in the USA. It points to a drop in the number of events in the market, from 1,100 (2019) to 996 (2024) – and a 13% decline of finishers between 2019 and 2024.
Note: Cal Tri uses the term ‘race’ for a stand-alone event weekend, whereas we have used the term ‘event’ above to align with the phrasing used by USA Triathlon. This refers to a branded event that may comprise multiple distances and formats across an event weekend. So, for example, an ‘event’ weekend may be comprised of sprint distance, Olympic distance, relays, youth races, etc., with Cal Tri flagging a drop of just over 100 events between 2019 and 2024.
Cal Tri’s analysis arrives at the same 302,000 triathlon participations figure in 2024 as USA Triathlon. Although, it does point out that 2024 is down notably on the participation peak of 564,000 in 2011.
Historically, triathlon participation in the USA saw a steady decline from 2012 through to the pre-pandemic year of 2019. In its longer-term analysis, Cal Tri notes that, while the pandemic in 2020-21 was significant, much of the declines in triathlon participation had already happened before Covid.
Cal Tri stated that… ‘When considering the [number of] finishers in 2019, 82% of the decline was pre-pandemic, confirming that an overwhelming majority of the decline was prior to 2020.
‘On a brighter note, the most recent year over year data – 2023-2024 – is relatively flat at about 300K finishes.’
Turning to historic variations by race distance, Cal Tri noted that… ‘While still representing 76% of all finishes, the fast course sprint and Olympic distances, the welcome mat into the sport, has experienced the largest decline. From the peak in 2011, there are 40% less fast course races, and average [per race] attendance has shrunk from 301 to 246 (2024).’
Cal Tri adds that the (half iron) 70.3-mile distance saw its peak in 2014, and that there has since been a 26% decline in participation at this distance. During the same period, it reports that IRONMAN has increased its market share from 56% (2014) to 86% (2024).
‘When it comes to the 70.3-mile distance, athletes overwhelmingly chose IRONMAN with an average of 1,713 finishes per race versus 105 finishes at a non-IRONMAN [branded] race.’
For the full-distance, also known as long distance or iron distance (140.6-mile events), Cal Tri reports a 38% finisher decline from 2014 to 2024 in the USA: 26K (2014) vs 16K (2024). Reflecting the dominance of IRONMAN, it adds that 99% of finishes at this distance are at nine remaining IRONMAN branded events: California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas, Lake Placid, Maryland, Chattanooga and Florida.
In building its long-term analysis, Cal Tri Events thanked USA Triathlon CEO Victoria Brumfield and Krista Prescott, USA Triathlon Chief Marketing & Growth Officer… ‘for participating in a great discussion about the state of the sport and sharing their vision for the future.’
Victoria Brumfield, USA Triathlon CEO, said “The stability and growth of events is core to the health of the multisport ecosystem and is the primary focus of our organization.
“There have been constrictions in the sport since the early 2010s, and yet the sport is still strong with many areas of growth including new athletes coming into the sport, increased growth from younger age groups, and race directors adding more formats and races to their weekend events, creating new opportunities for participation. We are optimistic for the future of the sport.”
www.usatriathlon.org
www.californiatriathlon.org
