The Activity Flag: Remove an Activity's segment results from the Leaderboard

Segment leaderboards are often a highly visible area where bad or improper data can be surfaced on Strava. Users are ultimately responsible for their own data, and Strava provides the tools needed to edit your data. Information on how to resolve a flag on your own activity can be here.

• Determining whether an activity deserves to be flagged
• How to apply an activity flag
• Abusing the activity flag

Should this activity be flagged?

When not to flag: Sometimes, there can be issues with segment matches, but it's not a result of any problems with the activity itself.

• If the activity data seems fine, but the segment time or the max/average speed seems incorrect, please do not flag the activity. This is due to a limitation of our segment-matching process and, therefore, not a valid reason to flag. More information can be found here.
• Please familiarize yourself with this article to understand how certain shapes, lengths, or locations of segments can cause matching issues. Below are the segment characteristics that can cause matching issues.
  • Very Short Segments
  • Bad Start/End Points
  • Tight Switchbacks
  • Parallel Trails
  • Very Long Segments
  • Very Complex Segments
  • Tunnels
• Also, if the elevation data for an activity is inaccurate, please do not flag it. As this does not cause problems on the segment leaderboards. If the elevation data is causing invalid results on a Strava elevation challenge, please proceed with submitting a support ticket so we can investigate.

When to Flag: There may also be times when bad segment matches hold top spots because the owner's GPS data is inaccurate, the data was recorded in a vehicle, the activity is categorized as the incorrect sport type, etc.

• Top leaderboard spots were earned because the data was recorded with vehicle assistance (motor-pacing or drafting a vehicle, receiving a lift in a vehicle, leaving the device on while driving, etc). At this point in time, athletes should use the 'workout' category if their activity contains vehicle or motorized data. These motorized activities should not be flagged if properly categorized as 'workout.'
• Top leaderboard spots are earned because the GPS data is erratic or recorded at large intervals (10+ seconds).
• Top leaderboard spots are earned because the activity is categorized as the wrong sport type. For example, a bike ride is categorized as a run.
• A Strava athlete is recording duplicate activities.

How to flag

Once you've determined that the activity should be flagged (see guidelines above), you can follow the steps below to flag the activity and remove it from leaderboards. When you flag an activity, a notification is generated on that athlete's Strava dashboard.

1. Find the bad segment match: When you find an incorrect or improper segment time, click through to the Strava Activity page. If you're on a segment leaderboard, you will need to click on the date of the segment result to reach the activity.
2. Flag the activity and leave a detailed description of the problem: If the activity should be flagged, use the ellipses icon at the left side of the page to select Flag. Select the correct reason for the flag and leave descriptive and thorough comments. Leaving detailed comments is incredibly important for the Support Team to be able to appropriately address the flag, so please be as descriptive and specific as possible. Naming affected segments on the activity, specifying the location of a GPS data problem, and relaying personal knowledge about the area or the athlete are all valuable to include.
   • If the activity appears to have data that was done by a motorized vehicle or partially done by a motorized vehicle, select the first option. 
   • For activities that appear to be listed as the wrong activity type, like a ride that is accidentally categorized as a run, select the second option. 
   • If there is bad GPS data that causes inaccurate mileage or segment times, select "Bad GPS data". For specific segment errors, it is helpful if you include which segments are affected in the comments section. 
   • For other issues that are not listed here, select "Other" and leave a thorough description of the problem in the comment field. 

3. When you're done, press the "Flag" button. A yellow bar will appear at the top of the activity page, signifying that the activity has been flagged. The activity will be automatically removed from all segment leaderboards. The activity remains on the site, and the segments remain on the activity page with achievements; however, all the public results are removed from the segment leaderboards. 

Abusing the Activity Flag 

If we determine that you are not following our flagging guidelines, your ability to flag may be revoked; your flags will be resolved, and/or your account may be at risk for deletion.