#119: Our most popular newsletters of 2024
Back in 2025.
issue #119: Dec. 24, 2024
I’m sending this out a day early (because tomorrow’s Christmas!) and we’re keeping it short and sweet — just sharing which of the newsletters you all passed around and opened the most this year (because I always find that interesting), and yes it’s all about the gossip with you all but it’s also about understanding everything that’s happening.
So so much happened in triathlon this year — see: last week’s ‘best of’ — and I appreciate how many different podcasts and social outlets there are now that dive into all the minutiae for better and worse. Our goal *here* will continue to be both minutiae and big picture. Giving you the context and analysis and what you need to know about everything triathlon-ish 1x/week; hopefully, with a perspective and, ideally, some insight you don’t get anywhere else.
Until next week, I hope you’re having a great bike-swim-run-filled mini-break.
- Kelly
Our most popular newsletters this year
Will Ironman go back to a one-day World Championship? - Obviously the big question on everyone’s mind — and while this was written after Men’s Kona, so some specific details have progressed or changed slightly (see: The Ironman Survey, which also originally came in at #9 on our list here), the overall concerns and points are still very accurate.
TriBike Transport is suing Ironman - I was a little surprised this didn’t get more attention at the time, but then it slowly picked up steam — probably from search traffic and people trying to look up ‘what the hell happened.’
Yes, this is the wrong newsletter day - From election day in the U.S.
Where to start: PTO or Ironman? - Back in January when Ironman announced a new CEO + the PTO announced the T100 schedule and contracts all in the same week. Just for funsies.
Oh, so doping’s in the news again - Another explanation of how out-of-competition testing pools work and why the PTO
doesn’tdidn’t have one. Which I think I will just end up explaining every year forever.Athlete ownership, investor rounds, and the PTO - Trying to actually answer the question of what “athlete ownership” means when it comes to the Pro Triathlete Organization.
The triathlon shake-ups - About the accelerated fragmentation of media, especially in the endurance sports space, and why this larger trend has then led to the wild proliferation of rumors as a source of triathlon news. (I’ll add that usually I know when something I’m writing might upset some people, but I was in a weird place the week this went out and the response to this one took me a bit by surprise.)
Down under puns - I think you all were just really excited for 70.3 Worlds preview & IM Pro Series wrap-up.
Hot take: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - It was fine to give Sam Laidlow a pass in terms of World Championship validation — a point that has, of course, now become moot.
More drama with the Malibu Triathlon - An update on the Malibu Triathlon taking away the permit from Supertri and then not having the race happening and now re-taking it away from the RD they gave the permit, too. Terrible but also funny.
From the ground
I separated out the coverage we delivered from events, though, which I sent out to give everyone some on-the-ground perspective and takeaways from a variety of races — lots and lots of travel this year.
The Olympics (including some of my favorite moments and my war against French barricades during the mixed team relay) — in case you missed it, we also did a daily podcast from Paris
And from the U.S. Olympic Media Summit before the big event
And the most popular stories
We also did a number of other stories (Q&As, reported pieces, interviews, and Book Clubs) throughout the year. As I closed down paying subscriptions this month, I sent out a thank-you to those supporters, but I also wanted to share some of this year’s most read non-newsletter stories with you as well.
How Much Does It Cost to Do An Ironman? - By far the most popular story of the year — mostly because Google search is such a mess these days that actually providing an answer to this question with data is, like, wow.
Your Complete Olympics Preview + Your Complete Paralympics Triathlon Preview - self-explanatory
How to Become a Pro Triathlete - Because it’s a question I see pop-up (and with incorrect answers) every year — just like the whole ‘can you race in a sports bra’ question.
A Super Short Explanation on Why Triathlon is Very Un-Diverse - I was actually surprised this really resonated and got shared around as much as it did. It was, as it says, super short and not a long or complete explanation.
See you in January!