Canada’s Natasha Wodak has had a formidable profession on each the monitor and the roads, and is taken into account one of many nation’s greatest-ever feminine distance runners. She has represented Canada at two Olympic Video games and holds the nationwide marathon report of two:23:12. Regardless of her achievements, the health monitoring app Strava doesn’t appear to acknowledge their significance; it denied her a professional athlete subscription for 2024.
“I’m not certain what hurts extra, not making the Canadian Olympic workforce or getting rejected by Strava for my PRO badge renewal,” Wodak wrote on her Instagram.
A Strava Professional Athlete and Verified Badge gives a number of advantages, together with unique options on Strava, comparable to superior analytics, efficiency insights and the power to create and share customized challenges or occasions without spending a dime. Professional athletes are highlighted on Strava, making it simpler for followers and followers to seek out and observe them. The badge exists to acknowledge public figures, noteworthy group builders and influential people around the globe.
In line with Strava, for an expert runner to be authorised for a professional athlete badge, they will need to have achieved a World Athletics entry commonplace previously 18 months or positioned within the high 5 at a nationwide championship (e.g. USA Observe & Area or Athletics Canada). An athlete should additionally present proof of monetary compensation for coaching and athletic endeavours, whether or not by means of a journey stipend, coaching price stipend or wage from notable sponsors (e.g. Brooks, Asics, Nike).
In Wodak’s case, she meets each of those verification standards, which is why the rejection electronic mail got here as a shock. She certified and competed for Canada at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest within the girls’s marathon and has received three Canadian nationwide titles within the final 18 months. Moreover, she receives monetary compensation by means of an expert (salary-based) contract with Asics Canada.
Wodak took three photographs at making the Canadian marathon workforce for Paris 2024, however got here up just some minutes wanting the ladies’s marathon commonplace of two:26:50.
Strava’s pro-athlete group contains greater than 2,300 athletes from 195 international locations. This standing not solely acknowledges them as skilled athletes, but additionally offers them with a complimentary Strava subscription and entry to a group of energetic followers.
We reached out to Strava for a remark however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.
