I saw a race recently - a men's distance event - in which 4 runners fell heading into the last lap. Following Letsrun arguments here the race should have been re-run. Or does that only apply when a sentimental favorite is involved?
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It's why they run the race in the first place. Worlds has a bye for prior champions - Olympics does not. We live in a "what have you done for me lately" world and Mu's fall was unfortunate. Olympics qualifying does not favor champions over anyone else - it's level playing field. Watching the replay frame by frame it appears that Mu turned her head to the left which likely caused her to move in that direction, and then her left leg may have made contact with Raevyn Rogers who was behind her.
Rogers, Huerta-Klecker, and Grace were thrown off the most by the fall. Grace ended up on the infield and had to maneuver the spot where two sections of rail meet in order to get back on the track. Those three had more of a claim than Mu. The fall took place in the first 200m of the race, but it was in the first 100m after they were no longer in lanes and breaking for the pole. For that reason the race should have been recalled similar to a fall in the first 100m of a distance race. They would have needed more recovery time for a restart but it seems a reasonable response to falls of this kind.
Actually that was Hurta My Klecka who ended up in the infield.
Grace ended up on infield before Huerta-Klecker and had to maneuver where two sets of rails come together.
Akins and the other two Miracle girls won't even make it the Olympic 800 finals. Hope they see all the sights in Paris and enjoy themselves. Meanwhile, please put Mu on a 4 x 400 team. She a world class talent not a lucky loo. America is not as deeply talented as we think we are.
Most folks posting here have a pretty good take on this. Mu cut in poorly, just like she did in 2021, except this time it cost her instead of Nia Akins. I feel bad for Mu, but absolutely nothing should be done.
On the Citius pod, Centrowitz had a great take on this. Here are his main points:
1. It’s a bummer that this happened to Mu.
2. This reopens the debate about whether we need a discretionary spot in the U.S. selection system like Athletics Kenya or UK Athletics uses.
3. Centro concludes that the U.S. should NOT change its Trials system because a discretionary spot will allow things to get political AND because even with our brutal Trials system, we still bring home more medals in Athletics than any other country.
4. Centro says he feels great about this team and its chances. He was super positive about Nia, Allie, and Juliette.
That was the gist of Centro’s hot take. I think it’s a sound argument and it balances the question of fairness vs. performance outcome. You don’t have to be a Mu hater to feel that absolutely nothing should be done to alter the outcome here. Any talk of Mu “deserving” this is stupid, and so is any talk of doing something to change the results.
