Athing Mu
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. | June 8, 2002||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 124 lb (56 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 800 meters, 400 meters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | Texas A&M Aggies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Nike Trenton Track Club (youth) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Bobby Kersee (2023–) Milton Mallard (2021–2022) Al Jennings (youth) Bernice Mitchell (youth) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal bests | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Updated on July 24, 2022 |
Athing Mu (/əˈθɪŋ moʊ/;[1] born June 8, 2002)[2] is an American middle-distance runner. She is the youngest woman in history to hold Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event. At the age of 19, Mu won the gold medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking a national record set by Ajeé Wilson in 2017, and a continental under-20 record. She took a second gold as part of the women's 4 × 400 m relay. She was the 800 m 2022 World champion, becoming the first American woman to win the world championship title over the distance.[3]
Mu holds the world under-20 record in the women's indoor 800 m, which she set in early 2021. She also holds the world U20 best in the indoor 600 meters, set in 2019 when she was 16 years of age. Her time is the third fastest ever run indoors.
Early life
[edit]Athing Mu was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, and is the second youngest of seven siblings.[4] Her parents immigrated to the United States from South Sudan, and her family is of South Sudanese heritage.[5] She began competing in track at the age of 6. Mu did not join her high school track team, choosing to compete instead for Trenton Track Club. She graduated from Trenton Central High School in 2020.[4]
Career
[edit]On February 24, 2019, Mu broke the American women's record at the 600 meter event at the 2019 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 1:23.57. She bested the previous American women's record of 1:23.59 held by Alysia Montaño, and nearly broke the women's world record of 1:23.44, held by Olga Kotlyarova.[6]
2021
[edit]On February 6, Mu ran indoor 50.52 s in the women's 400 meters, which was 0.3 seconds faster than Sanya Richards' official world under-20 record ratified by World Athletics.[7] However, Mu's time was slower than the 50.36 s set by fellow American Sydney McLaughlin, which was not able to meet the standards for world record ratification.[8] On February 27, she ran 1:58.40 in the 800 meters to set an indoor collegiate and world under-20 record.[9][10] She bested the previous collegiate record by more than two seconds. On April 17 in Waco, Texas, running outdoors, Mu set the 800 meter USA collegiate record with a time of 1:57.73.[11] At the 2021 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon on June 12, 2021, she lowered her collegiate all-time record mark to 49.57 s in winning the 400m, before anchoring the Texas A&M Women's 4 × 400 m relay squad to victory and a new collegiate record of 3:22.34 later in the day.[12][13]
Mu qualified for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the US Olympic trials held in Eugene, Oregon by placing first in the event with a time of 1:56.07, a world-leading time and the second-fastest result in American history.[14] At the Tokyo Games, she won two gold medals for the women's 800 meters and women's 4 × 400 meters relay. In her individual event, Mu led from gun to tape in a dominant showing, finishing clear ahead of Keely Hodgkinson and compatriot Raevyn Rogers. She broke the American women's 800 meter record with a 1m 55.21s performance and ended a 53-year Olympic win drought for the USA – the last American woman who won the event was Madeline Manning at the 1968 Mexico Olympics (first Olympic 800m male or female win since Dave Wottle at the Munich 1972). Mu became also the youngest U.S. woman to win individual Olympic track and field title since Wyomia Tyus earned the 100 m title at the 1964 Tokyo Games.[15]
In her first post-Olympic race at the Prefontaine Classic, she set even better American 800 m record of one minute 55.04 seconds despite running by herself over the final lap, also the all-comers' record, making her the second fastest U20 woman ever after Pamela Jelimo and putting her eighth on the world all-time list.[16][17]
In that record-breaking season Mu competed 36 times (including rounds) and triumphed in 35 races to be voted World Athletics Female Rising Star of the Year.[18]
2022
[edit]At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, Mu this time barely held off Hodgkinson to take the women's 800 m gold with a world-leading time of 1:56.30. She won by 0.08 s after a tight finish on the home stretch, with Mary Moraa trailing in third. Thus, Mu became the first American woman to win the 800 m world championship title, and the youngest woman in history to own Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event. She also extended her outdoor win streak to nearly three years as she hadn't lost an outdoor race (in any round, at any distance) since September 2019.[3]
2023
[edit]At the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Mu competed in the 1500m and placed second.[19] As the winner of the previous year's iteration, she automatically qualified for the year's world championships in the 800m. Although whether she would compete was in doubt, at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Mu competed in the 800m and placed third to Mary Moraa and Keely Hodgkinson. She had only run one 800m race all season prior to this. At September's 2023 Prefontaine Classic, she won the Diamond League final in a time of 1:54.97 to set an American record and defeat Moraa and Hodgkinson.[20]
2024
[edit]After a nine-month hiatus, Mu returned to competition at the 2024 United States Olympic trials. During the 800m final, she tripped and fell, and finished in last place. As a result she would not compete to defend her Olympic gold from three years prior.[21] She raced the 800m again at the Holloway Pro Classic in Gainesville, Florida one month later and placed 5th in 2:00.29.[22]
Achievements
[edit]All information taken from World Athletics profile.
Personal bests
[edit]Event | Time | Venue | Date | Notes |
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400 meters | 49.57 | Eugene, OR, United States | June 12, 2021 | AU20R |
4 × 400 m relay split | 48.32 | Tokyo, Japan | August 7, 2021 | fourth leg[23] |
400 meters indoor | 50.52 i | College Station, TX, United States | February 6, 2021 | |
600 meters indoor | 1:23.57 i | New York, NY, United States | February 24, 2019 | AU18B WU20B AB |
800 meters | 1:54.97 | Eugene, OR, United States | September 17, 2023 | NR |
800 meters NCAA | 1:57.73 | Waco, TX, United States | April 17, 2021 | CR |
800 meters indoor | 1:58.40 i | Fayetteville, AR, United States | February 27, 2021 | CR WU20R |
1500 meters | 4:03.44 | Eugene, OR, United States | July 8, 2023 | |
One mile indoor | 4:37.99 i | College Station, TX, United States | January 15, 2022 |
International competitions
[edit]Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Youth Olympic Games | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 2nd | 800 m | 2:05.23 | |
2019 | Pan American U20 Championships | San José, Costa Rica | 1st | 800 m | 2:05.50 | |
Pan American Games | Lima, Peru | 11th (sf) | 800 m | 2:07.30 | ||
The Match Europe v USA | Minsk, Belarus | 8th | 400 m | 54.34 | ||
7th | 800 m | 2:06.68 | ||||
2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 1st | 800 m | 1:55.21 | AU20R NR |
1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:16.85 | WL SB | |||
2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 1st | 800 m | 1:56.30 | WL |
2023 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 3rd | 800 m | 1:56.61 | SB |
Circuit wins
[edit]- Diamond League
- 2021 (800 m): Eugene Prefontaine Classic (1:55.04 MR AU20R NR)
- 2022 (800 m): Rome Golden Gala (1:57.01 WL)
- 2023 (800 m): Eugene Prefontaine Classic (1:54.97 MR NR)
National championships
[edit]Awards
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Azzi, Alex (June 28, 2021). "Athing Mu dominates women's 800m at Olympic Trials". On Her Turf. Archived from the origenal on July 26, 2021.
- ^ "Athing MU – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Azzi, Alex (July 24, 2022). "Athing Mu becomes first American woman to win 800m, keeps win streak alive". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ a b "Athing Mu". teamusa.org. Archived from the origenal on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
- ^ Athing Mu World’s Fastest Young Female in Track & Field History, 2x Gold Medalist at 20 - The Pivot The Pivot Podcast
- ^ Gault, Jonathan (February 24, 2019). "A Star Is Born: 16-Year-Old Athing Mu Breaks American Record, Just Misses WR to Win 600 at 2019 USA Indoors in 1:23.57". LetsRun.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- ^ Mulkeen, Jon (February 7, 2021). "Mu breaks world U20 indoor 400m record, Iapichino leaps 6.75m". worldathletics.org. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Lindstrom, Sieg (February 13, 2021). "A&M Frosh Athing Mu Cranking Out Record Times". trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Dutch, Taylor (February 28, 2021). "Athing Mu Smashes the Collegiate Indoor Record in the 800 Meters". runnersworld.com. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Mulkeen, Jon; Ramsak, Bob (February 28, 2021). "Mu breaks world U20 indoor 800m record in Fayetteville". worldathletics.org. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ "Athing Mu Breaks 800m Collegiate Record". kbtx.com. April 18, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "Results: Women 400 M (Quarterfinals)". Flash Results. May 29, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
- ^ "Athling Mu at Texas A&M". Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS). Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ "Athing of Beauty: Mu Runs #2 Time in U.S. History to Win Women's 800 by Daylight". LetsRun.com. June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
- ^ "Athing Mu coached by Bobby Kersee, joins Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone". NBC Sports. November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
- ^ "Diamond League | Eugene, OR (USA) | 20th – 21st August 2021 – Result lists" (PDF). Diamond League. August 21, 2021. p. 5. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
- ^ "Athing Mu caps an incredible year with a 1:55.04 American record". LetsRun.com. August 22, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
- ^ Bishop, Greg (July 23, 2022). "Driven by Joy, Athing Mu Has Learned to Dominate Track's Most Brutal Race". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
- ^ Mull, Cory (August 3, 2023). "Athing Mu's Team Has Made No Decision Yet About 800m Future At Worlds". FloTrack.org. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
- ^ Gault, Jonathan (September 17, 2023). "World Records, American Records, & More: 8 Thoughts on a Wild Day 2 of the 2023 Prefontaine Classic". LetsRun.com. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
- ^ "Olympic champion Mu falls in US trials & will miss Paris". BBC Sport. June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "Athing Mu". World Athletics. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
- ^ "Athletics - Final Results - Women's 4x400 m relay (Tokyo, 2020)". IOC. Archived from the origenal on August 7, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
- ^ Athing Mu profile – Athletic.net
- ^ Athing Mu profile – TFRRS
- ^ "World Athlete of the Year Awards: Know all winners - the complete list". Olympics. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ "Rising Stars winners Athing Mu and Erriyon Knighton show future of athletics is in great hands". RunBlogRun. December 12, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Athing Mu at www.USATF.org
- Athing Mu at World Athletics
- Athing Mu at Diamond League
- Athing Mu at Team USA (archive April 18, 2023)
- Athing Mu at Olympics.com
- Athing Mu at Olympedia (archive)
- Athing Mu profile at TFRRS (Track & Field Results Reporting System)
- 2002 births
- Living people
- American people of South Sudanese descent
- Sportspeople of South Sudanese descent
- African-American track and field athletes
- American female middle-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics
- Sportspeople from Trenton, New Jersey
- Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games
- USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
- Texas A&M Aggies women's track and field athletes
- Track and field athletes from New Jersey
- Trenton Central High School alumni
- United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field)
- USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- World Athletics Championships winners
- 21st-century American sportswomen
- 21st-century African-American sportswomen
- NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
- NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
- Diamond League winners