20-year-old Athing Mu doesn't just dominate the field in the 800. She does it with a smile on her face. GregBishopSI on one of the world's best middle distance runners that also happens to be the most joyous
For Rainey-Valmon and Price—and most 800ers who excel where others change events or sports—the final 100-meter stretch proved pivotal. At events like the world championships now being held at Hayward Field, most, if not all, of the finalists should be grouped relatively close together after the final turn. Two things separate them down the homestretch: their top speed and the energy they have saved to reach it.
Price and Rainey-Valmon both cite the same moment they noticed the tall , lanky blur barreling around a curve in a 600-meter heat at the USATF Indoor Championships in 2019. Both blinked when they saw the time: 1:23.23. A female high school athlete had never run that fast before—and Mu was still a junior, still only 16. “Wow. She justSoon enough, Price and Mu became friends, then teammates.
This year, Mu cut down on her total races. No matter. The regimen she embarked on should yield even-faster times soon enough. She arrived here, at Hayward Field, and described her mood as “very relaxed, very chill.” Her resting heart rate may not have registered as she said that. But it did strike a chord with Allyson Felix, theof American track and field.