Showcasing herself on Instagram: the German sprinter Alica Schmidt Image: Picture Alliance
Athletics attracts a knowledgeable senior audience, but the disciplines are often too unattractive and uncool for young people. Sport is facing radical changes.
Athletics is often about winning races. This applies not only to the athletes in the arenas around the world, but also to the association itself. In this case, it is a race against time. That’s what World Athletics President Sebastian Coe calls it. The problem: Athletics attracts a knowledgeable senior audience, but not the younger generations. Too unattractive, too long-winded, too little action. A decathlon is more reminiscent of a game of Monopoly that is far too long than a fresh video reel.
The boys click differently: staged reality, for example on Instagram, Tiktok or Be Real. You can follow American sprinter Noah Lyles, currently the fastest man in the world, on Instagram (554,000 followers). There you can see him with funny glasses in funny outfits, doing strength training with a barbell or on the track.
