Athing Mu may skip 2023 World Championships and focus on 2024

Assuming good health, doing worlds IS focusing on the olmpics!! Big meets, big competition, getting used to travel etc...

ya Know....I can see Sid switching to open 4, she can legitimately say she was without peers anymore in 400H. But Mu was truly great...for a very short period of time and peers closing on her. She is no goat yet, she needs to run the 8 and stop screwing around. She can be the best ever. But not yet.

Track doesn’t have a “league”

This has to be the softest thing I've ever seen in sport. Not just track, sport. Is Nike okay with funding their defending gold medallist to possibly vacation at the world championships? Grant Fisher (another Nike athlete) is over here salvaging fitness and cross-training 2.5 hrs a day to MAYBE make the starting line of the WC. Mu, completely healthy (as far as we know), is MAYBE not going to compete?

And why is it always Bobby and the LA times, could she not make a social media post about this? I'd actually be a bit more understanding.

My instinct: scared to lose. She saw Hodgkinson run that 1:55 and now thinks she needs to be in 1:54 shape or she can't race. Bobby probably had her do a TT and she "only" ran 1:56.

I think you can have compassion but still be very disappointed. What would you say to a big fan who was planning to travel to Budapest and already spent $ in great part to see her compete? Honestly, at the end of the day fans pay her salary. Yes, it’s routed through Nike, but it’s really the fans who support her and all of the pros. She’s a person with feelings and a she’s a champion, so she deserves some deference, but I do think fans have a right to be openly critical of this decision (if it’s true). No fans, no money, no sport.

THANK YOU! this unspoken rule of nothing matter but the Olympic year is why no one gets paid in this sport.

does anybody else get the feeling that Athing doesn't really like running and she just does it because she is good at it ? Usually a talent like that without motivation would fade away and give up but just like Usain Bolt before her she can still win with little effort or motivation .

Do you realize the reprocussions of this? Nike is going put stronger reduction clauses in their contracts, and it's really going to hurt athletes who actually love this sport and get hurt or miss a team.

Talk about bad for the sport, Athing Mu is screwing over every other T&F athlete in the world.

Thanks. RW also quoted part of that interview in a just released article. Geez. She just turned 21 and is already a Worlds and Olympic champ. The vitriol coming out of this thread is incredible - all the people who say they will just stop rooting for her just like that. Wow. Give the gal a break if she wants to take a year off! '21 Tokyo, '22 Eugene, '23 Budapest, '24 Paris. Might be a recipe for burnout for some. Like others have said, at this point, Olympic Gold is what really matters, and I think they have an eye on not just Paris next year but saving something for LA 2028.

["This year has been so great for me mentally. It's such a relief I haven't really put myself out there that much."]

"Coming into these meets, whether it’s a small competition, big competition, there’s just so much pressure just overall. You know, you’re overthinking your race days before you’re even out there. So I mean, just the overall pressure that you feel when it comes to competing is a lot and so I think, you know, the past few years have been a lot for me.”

["So we just wanted to step back and be my 21 year old self and just enjoy life for a little bit."]

runnersworld.com

Athing Mu Is a Question Mark for World Championships

According to the Los Angeles Times, the American record holder in the 800 meters might train through Worlds to prepare for the Olympics in 2024.

Link:www.runnersworld.com/news/a44716614/at...

She has an Olympic Gold a World Championship Gold, she has run 1:55. Maybe there is no more motivation to train hard and race, the World Record is out of reach so that is not something to shoot for.

Maybe she wants to get into Modeling, which is fine, but come out and tell it like it is. In any case she is loosing alot of fans, it is really hard to root for someone who doesnt want to show up and perform.

Not sure if Kersee is the reason, but if he is, he is a total Goon.

Here is JG's and RJ's article on the matter:

letsrun.com

LA Times: Athing Mu Considering Sitting Out 2023 Worlds

LetsRun.com

And here’s the kicker – she’s not injured.

Link:www.letsrun.com/news/2023/08/la-times-...

Avoiding racing is not going to make it any easier. I really hope that she gets a psychologist or some voice in her ear that doesn’t just say yes and tell her what she wants to hear, because allowing her to do whatever she wants, avoid competition and racing, is only going to make things worse. If she skips Budapest I think she will never return to the track.

I have read a lot of posts from folks on this site over the years.

Why tf would anyone criticize the decisions of an individual that has already cemented a rarified spot in our sport?

That’s some sh*t, people. “I was a fan until…” - an individual’s decision and choice. Btw, the decision and choice of World and Olympic champion.

Comedy. A bunch of keyboard tough guys.

Thank you for inspiring me to react and respond to this after more than a decade of LRdotC participation. WTF?

She hates running. Sources say modeling is her true passion.

Perfectly said. While it's not Athing's responsibility to "save the sport," she is a huge draw and missing her at Worlds and even more so at these smaller meets hurts the fans who want to see her race. It's disappointing to agree to do a race, get the fans excited, and then pull out with no apparent injury or strong justification. It's like that friend who says they'll go out with the group and then just before you all meetup always has something come up. It's fine once or once in a while but if it keeps happening, then something's up.

It also really underlines how much our sport is beholden to the Olympic model and how detrimental that is. So basically track and field is two real meets (trials and Olympics) every four years and then maybe some stuff sprinkled in if Kersee feels like it. It wouldn't surprise me if this is how Kersee views the sport and it is upsetting to see that he has athletes who are big enough names that they could change that but he instead does the opposite.

That's certainly possible, but after just very recently losing Tori Bowie, I believe we should be supporting our athletes' mental health. I do understand a lot of people have a Pre mindset of not wanting her to sacrifice the "gift," but imho, if she needs a break, she should get a break. Kersee's coached some athletes with incredible longevity (hey everyone - did you know Allyson Felix is a Mom?), so I'm going to trust he knows what he's doing.

PEDs withdrawal

You and "hiroshi" are getting me in trouble. Your post and his that said, "I say this as a huge fan of Athing Mu....Gosh, that isn't suspicious at all," had me laughing out loud. Great posts with like 60 to 1 up to down vote ratios.

The problem was this all happened 30 seconds after I told my wife I was working.

She said, "It sure doesn't look like you are working in there." I told her getting the sentiment of the masses is work.

Other than the hook of being a world class athlete, how is she going to compete as a model? Does that hook still exist when you are no longer competitive? Seriously pretty much every track athlete would rather be a top level model making 10x as much. But the market for athletes as models is sort of limited...

Maybe she should skip the Olympics next year to focus on 2028 . This is terrible for the sport when top athletes barely compete and don’t care enough to do the world championships .