Catching up with CITIUS MAG

If you’ve ever searched for updates on world-record attempts, Olympic trials, or major road races, there’s a good chance you’ve come across a viral clip, podcast, or article from CITIUS MAG.

True to form, the CITIUS crew was on the ground this past weekend the U.S. Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, bringing fans real-time coverage on the track—including high-intensity moments like Noah Lyles staring down Kenny Bednarek while securing his third 200m world title, and 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus setting a new U18 world record, becoming the youngest athlete ever to represent Team USA at a World Championship.

Known for its unique blend of humor, solid journalism, and deep running knowledge, CITIUS has become a go-to source for track and field fans, which is why we were so excited to partner with them to design a collab sock just in time for the U.S. Championships. To celebrate the launch of our I LOVE TRACK & FIELD sock, we caught up with founder Chris Chavez to talk about the origins of the media company, the growing momentum behind the sport, and how his team is making it easier (and a lot more fun) to be a track fan.

Photo Credit: Johnny Zhang (@jzsnapz) for CITIUS MAG

A: I started CITIUS MAG back in 2017 as I was looking to continue my coverage of track and field after the Rio Olympics at a high level. I was a writer at Sports Illustrated at the time and I understood how the mainstream sports media attention on a sport like track tapers down after the Summer Games but I was really energized about it and wanted to maintain the level of coverage I was producing the previous years.

So I started CITIUS MAG on the side as a passion project and it was very quickly well-received by the running community as a place offering commentary, analysis and humor on the sport through our written coverage and especially my podcast.

A: We lean heavily on our personalities driving our storytelling and commentary efforts. When we’re super excited about a particular event, athlete or performance, we want that to be contagious for a running or general sports fan.

Track and field gets the spotlight at the Olympics and then it has a major fall off in the public’s attention and we’re doing our best to keep eyes on the sport and its athletes by trying to make it easier to follow. Like many niche sports, there are obstacles to being a fan – paywalls/subscriptions, not knowing when events are or who is competing when/where. Sometimes it may seem basic but we remember that not everyone is as deep in the weeds in the sport as us and we’re trying to usher them to all the fun.

A: There’s no secret there’s been a running boom since the pandemic and then when you couple it with the fact that everyone is getting faster or curious about exploring their best in a race, you’ll be attentive to who is the fastest to do it.

That brings people’s attention to who the top marathoners or road racers are and many times they have a background in track. So there’s a route people can take to being a track fan by familiarizing themselves with the pros on the roads.

On top of that, Paris did an amazing job of staging a successful Olympics and it helped that Team USA had a tremendous showing. People rally around champions and medalists and Paris created a slew of new stars that people will hopefully follow in the lead-up to the LA Olympics.

A: That’s a great question and I’m not entirely sure! I haven’t tried running a PR in the 5K in a long time but when I do, I’ll be sure to do it in Swiftwick socks. I’ll eventually try to get around to completing the new World Marathon Majors en route to the eventual 9-star mega medal.