Medal Lanyards Explained: Types, Widths, Printing and Attachments

Written by the Badge Artisans production team · Last updated: 2026-10-30

Ask what is a lanyard and most people describe a strap. In medal production it is a specified component with a width, a length, a print method and an attachment. It is also the part of a medal that touches the runner. It is also the part most often specified last, by whoever has the artwork file open, five minutes before the order closes. If you are specifying one now, the custom medal ribbons and accessories range lists the widths, attachments and print methods available.

That ordering of priorities produces two predictable outcomes: a lanyard too narrow for the medal, and a ribbon color that fights the enamel. Both are avoidable with three decisions made early — material, width and attachment.

What we’ll cover

• Lanyard types and how they wear
• Width and length standards
• Attachment types and safety
• Printing methods compared
• Matching lanyard to medal weight
• Ordering specifications

Lanyard Types and How They Wear

Four materials cover almost every event medal, and each behaves differently against skin, sweat and weather.

Flat webbing is the default for race medals because it takes full-color printing well and sits flat on the chest. Tubular lanyards feel softer but print less crisply, because the artwork has to wrap around a tube.

Woven ribbon is the higher-end option. The design is built into the weave rather than printed on top, so it does not fade, but fine detail and gradients are not possible.

Width and Length Standards

The industry standard for an adult race medal is 860–900 mm long and 20–30 mm wide. Kids’ lanyards run 800 × 20 mm. Those numbers exist for a reason: length has to clear the chest when worn over a t-shirt, and width has to carry the medal’s weight without folding.

Two adjustments that matter. A wider lanyard does not just look better on a heavy medal — it stops the medal from twisting, which is the most common complaint from runners after a race. And a shorter lanyard raises the medal on the chest, which changes how it appears in finish-line photographs.

Length is usually quoted as the total loop, not the drop. Confirm which measurement the supplier is using before approving, because the difference is roughly half the loop.

Attachment Types and Safety

The attachment is where a medal fails. There are five common options, and one safety requirement.

The breakaway clasp is not optional for children’s events. A lanyard that cannot release under load is a strangulation risk. The breakaway releases at a set tension, which means it can also come undone during normal wear — acceptable for a kids’ event, annoying for an adult race.

Attachment strength should match medal weight. A 100 g medal on a thin webbing loop will eventually pull through the hole. A split ring or a reinforced loop costs little and removes the failure mode.

Printing Methods Compared

Heat-transfer webbing is the workhorse for race medals: full color, good detail, reasonable cost. Dye-sublimation gives the best photographic reproduction but fades faster in prolonged sunlight.

Screen print is underused. For a one-color logo repeated along a lanyard, it is cheaper and more durable than a full-color process, and the result looks deliberate rather than photographic.

Matching Lanyard to Medal Weight

This is the calculation that prevents most complaints, and it takes a minute.

Two things to check before approving. First, the hole position on the medal: if it is centerd, a heavy medal can hang off-balance, so the hole should sit slightly above center. Second, the ribbon color against the enamel — a lanyard in the same intensity as the medal face removes all contrast.

Ordering Specifications

A lanyard order needs six numbers and two references. The full procurement process — widths, MOQs, cost drivers and QC checks — is written up in the race medal ribbons and accessories procurement guide.

Sampling for a printed lanyard is usually faster than for a cast medal, because there is no mold. But the color on fabric will not match the color on enamel exactly — different substrates, different inks. If the medal and the lanyard must match, approve both samples together.

Where Lanyard Specifications Go Wrong

Five mistakes account for most lanyard complaints, and all of them are decided before production.

• Width chosen by appearance, not by medal weight. A 20 mm lanyard on a 100 g medal folds and twists. The medal turns around on the chest, which is the complaint runners make most often.
• Length quoted as a drop, not a loop. The two measurements differ by roughly half. A lanyard ordered at “450 mm” can arrive as a 450 mm drop or a 450 mm loop, and neither is what the other party expected.
• No breakaway on a children’s event. A lanyard that cannot release under load is a safety problem, not a design preference.
• Color matched to a screen. Fabric printing and enamel are different substrates. A ribbon approved from a monitor will not match the medal, and the mismatch is visible in every photograph.
• Printed artwork without a repeat length. A lanyard print runs continuously. If the artwork has no defined repeat, the logo lands at random intervals along the length.

A sixth issue is packing. Lanyards shipped loose tangle into a single mass, and untangling 500 of them before an event is an hour nobody budgets for. Ask for them bundled in tens, or individually attached to the medal. At event volume, the custom medals bulk order process explains how quantity changes packing and lead time.

A One-Page Lanyard Brief for Suppliers

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Related reading

• Race medal ribbons and accessories procurement guide
• Medal ribbons and accessories
• Custom medals bulk order process