Has athletics hit the ground running?

Athletics is the epitome of human excellence. From endurance, to strength, to speed, it is the ultimate showcase of the fastest and strongest people on the planet — something captured by the superb Netflix documentary Sprint. With two seasons released and a third on the way, this documentary captures what makes this sport so unique, and why sprinting especially is finally getting the exposure and attention it deserves.

Getting a Netflix deal alone is enough to show that athletics is increasing in popularity — but why is this? Sprint focuses on key individuals in the sport who competed in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the first series, and the 2024 Paris Olympics in the second. This individual focus makes sense considering sprinting is, other than relays, an individual sport. Yet, it also presents the idea that this sport is dominated by big personalities who can shine on the world stage. In Sprint, medal-winning Olympic and World Championship sprinter Noah Lyles said that athletics “needs to be about the athletes, their personalities, and what they bring to the table”. Hence, big personalities equal increased coverage and viewer numbers.

In this day and age, social media has become a focal point of society and has hurled all sorts of interests into the mass media — with sports being one of them. Although athletics has been televised since the 1950s, social media enhances these big personalities and shows other sides to their lives, increasing the appeal of the sport. Through personalising how spectators view them, athletes are more in control of their public status than ever — dare I say even becoming celebrities to the extent that sportspeople have not reached before.

Financially, social media also adds another dynamic to the popularity of athletics. Brand deals have become a key way for athletes to increase their paychecks, such as Noah Lyles and Puma, or 200m gold medalist Gabby Thomas and Nike. These opportunities available to sportspeople today make their profession bigger than the sport, creating bigger legendary roles to fill.

Yet in a rather paradoxical way, the increased focus on these sports superstars almost makes the success of less public sportspeople even more exceptional. For example, the 2024 Olympic women’s 100m was all to play for between the competitors, especially with the lack of the typical American-Jamaican rivalry due to injuries in the Jamaican camp. A fierce showdown in a gruelling 10.72 seconds saw Saint Lucian Julien Alfred sprinting to victory, beating American favourite Sha’Carri Richardson. Richardson is an athlete who is certainly not shy of attention and would have been a worthy winner of the gold, but everyone does love an underdog (not to undermine her skill but rather the lack of attention surrounding her). The whole melting pot of modern athletics makes watching the stars shine and the surpassing in underdog victories an equally exciting spectacle.

Importantly though, it is not just in the modern age that athletes’ names have started to roll off the  tongue, with some massive sporting names coming from athletics. From 1930s sporting sensation Jesse Owen, to legends such as Michael Johnson and Allyson Felix, these are all athletes who did not need social media to create the names that they have. Yet, the roles in the public eye that Johnson and Felix still have today just goes to show that athletics has entered an era of stardom which makes the sport more about the sport itself. All these sportspeople are exceptional at what they do, and this attention is giving athletics the voice it deserves; I personally hope this sport can continue to take the centre stage.

Illustration by Sarah Knight