Will Athing Mu ever be a factor in the 800m again?

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3 months ago 02/19/2026 1:11pm EST

re: Talent wins?

I just don't think she has much work ethic. And she seems hormone led, too dictated by her love life and by the men in it to be a lifelong elite athlete. How many young women want to get married and give up serious sport by the age of 22? I suspect that her previous success was very closely tied in with her then boyfriend, Brandon Miller. I suspect that he had more to do with her successful training than people give him credit for, and when that relationship broke up, the structure of her training went with it.

But its disapppointing. Her parents are immigrants from a pretty terrible country and presumably they moved to the US to enjoy opportunities they would not have done in their home country. Their daughter had the opportunity of a very well paid career for 10 years or more and yet has drawn it to a premature close. I wonder how much parental guidance there is there.

Its interesting to note that Keely Hodgkinson went through similar relationship difficulties but channeled it into her athletics career.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 4:50pm EST

What are chances Mu was watching Keely on the live stream today?

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:01pm EST

re: Talent wins?

You will all be proven wrong. She will come back this year and run 1:56. In '27, she will run 1:54 and medal at Worlds.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:10pm EST

re: michimanxc

michimanxc wrote:
You will all be proven wrong. She will come back this year and run 1:56.

1:56 in what event? The 400? Because Mu isn't running 1:56 in the 800 with no training, which is exactly what she is doing right now - no training.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:11pm EST

re: no___deal

no___deal wrote:
What are chances Mu was watching Keely on the live stream today?

Zero. Mu has already moved on from track.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:29pm EST

re: Talent wins?

point 1 -- athing mu's short career accomplished more than 99.99999999% of LR folks. olympic gold, other medals. i hope the beefing is more exasperation and less talking that down. there are big names who never got global gold.

point 2 -- TF, particularly US TF, is a sport where you can be a one-hit wonder if you don't watch it. our trials are so hard and unforgiving. high levels of global success even harder than that.

point 3 -- i do think she did well at a lull point globally. the intersex were being swept out. rogers was getting old. the current crop, keely, etc., were in development. and she was quick but so lopsided she could win while frontrunning.

point 4 -- i think she rushed out of college into pro sports only to find that post-brandon miller she didn't actually enjoy being a pro runner. if you do the math her career plummeted before what would have been her graduation, on pace.

i had an all-state soccer buddy who finished juco and never wanted to play organized sports again. not everyone is happy doing the things they are good at.

point 5 -- and because she left school early, what else is there.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:31pm EST

re: Talent wins?

Talent wins? wrote:
It seems that the 800m has moved on a bit since she was last a world beater. She had a humongous breakout in 2021, was hanging on by a thread to win in 2022 and lost in 2023 (although she did set a slight PR after Worlds). We know how 2024 went, and 2025 was basically a non-starter.
Will she ever be mixing it up with the 1:54 ladies (Keely, Odira, Hunter Bell, potentially Werro) again? Or will we have to appreciate what she managed to do before fading into irrelevance? Mind you, she still has a 1:54 PR, the American record and gold medals at Worlds and Olympics, so not a bad career by any measure.
Related - has anyone reached out to her for an interview? We basically know nothing about her current plans other than she moved to Dallas.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 5:46pm EST

re: The Imperative Voice Real13

The Imperative Voice Real13 wrote:
point 4 -- i think she rushed out of college into pro sports only to find that post-brandon miller she didn't actually enjoy being a pro runner.

That's correct. Her breakup with Brandon Miller was the beginning of the end. They had been friends since they were 12 or 13 years old, and they had been dating for about 3 years. Mu wanted to drop out of the World Championships because of the breakup, and Kersee had to talk her out of it. Mu never recovered mentally from that breakup.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 6:53pm EST

re: What will she do next

Athing now lives in a relatively modest condo in a city with no professional training group. However, there are three facilities with 400-meter tracks, all just a 30-minute drive away.

There is also a six-lane track only half a mile from her home, with an in-house “Speed Trainer & Athletic Performance Coach,” a former basketball player.

So either Athing is training in true Spartan fashion for an epic 400m comeback, or she is truly done with her career.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 7:20pm EST

re: no___deal

no___deal wrote:
Athing now lives in a relatively modest condo in a city with no professional training group. However, there are three facilities with 400-meter tracks, all just a 30-minute drive away.
There is also a six-lane track only half a mile from her home, with an in-house “Speed Trainer & Athletic Performance Coach,” a former basketball player.
So either Athing is training in true Spartan fashion for an epic 400m comeback, or she is truly done with her career.

Somehow I'd find it very strange that being married to a 40 year old private equity bro and living in Dallas is truly this fulfilling for a 23 year old Olympic champion and aspiring model: "I’m super grateful for what the LORD has placed in my life and what he is doing in my life".

She has to be training. What else is there to do? Can't be in church all day every day.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 7:29pm EST

re: no___deal

no___deal wrote:
Somehow I'd find it very strange that being married to a 40 year old private equity bro and living in Dallas is truly this fulfilling for a 23 year old Olympic champion and aspiring model: "I’m super grateful for what the LORD has placed in my life and what he is doing in my life".
She has to be training. What else is there to do? Can't be in church all day every day.

There are four churches within a half-mile radius from her home though, lol.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 7:51pm EST

re: Talent wins?

Talent wins? wrote:
It seems that the 800m has moved on a bit since she was last a world beater. She had a humongous breakout in 2021, was hanging on by a thread to win in 2022 and lost in 2023 (although she did set a slight PR after Worlds). We know how 2024 went, and 2025 was basically a non-starter.
Will she ever be mixing it up with the 1:54 ladies (Keely, Odira, Hunter Bell, potentially Werro) again? Or will we have to appreciate what she managed to do before fading into irrelevance? Mind you, she still has a 1:54 PR, the American record and gold medals at Worlds and Olympics, so not a bad career by any measure.
Related - has anyone reached out to her for an interview? We basically know nothing about her current plans other than she moved to Dallas.

Personally I think she could. She is that talented.

However, I also think it is highly problematic that she will. She does not even seem to be trying at this point and when and if she does try for a comeback, it probably just won't be there anymore.

She has had a brilliant but unfortunately very short career and fans could just ponder on what might have been. I would love to see her try to rebuild her career if she really wants to do it but I won't be holding my breath.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 7:59pm EST

This quoted post has been removed.

Mu is an adult. Parents are NOT responsible for the choices of their adult children and do not have the power to even presume to correct them.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:01pm EST

re: no___deal

no___deal wrote:
no___deal wrote:
Athing now lives in a relatively modest condo in a city with no professional training group. However, there are three facilities with 400-meter tracks, all just a 30-minute drive away.
There is also a six-lane track only half a mile from her home, with an in-house “Speed Trainer & Athletic Performance Coach,” a former basketball player.
So either Athing is training in true Spartan fashion for an epic 400m comeback, or she is truly done with her career.
Somehow I'd find it very strange that being married to a 40 year old private equity bro and living in Dallas is truly this fulfilling for a 23 year old Olympic champion and aspiring model: "I’m super grateful for what the LORD has placed in my life and what he is doing in my life".
She has to be training. What else is there to do? Can't be in church all day every day.

FYI, there are many other things to do in life besides just running and church. So no, she doesn't "have to be training."

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:03pm EST

re: RunningBecky

RunningBecky wrote:
She does not even seem to be trying at this point and when and if she does try for a comeback, it probably just won't be there anymore.

Kind of hard to beat Keely if Athing "does not even seem to be trying." Face it folks, Athing has moved on to other things.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:21pm EST

re: Talent wins?

Talent wins? wrote:
It seems that the 800m has moved on a bit since she was last a world beater. She had a humongous breakout in 2021, was hanging on by a thread to win in 2022 and lost in 2023 (although she did set a slight PR after Worlds). We know how 2024 went, and 2025 was basically a non-starter.
Will she ever be mixing it up with the 1:54 ladies (Keely, Odira, Hunter Bell, potentially Werro) again? Or will we have to appreciate what she managed to do before fading into irrelevance? Mind you, she still has a 1:54 PR, the American record and gold medals at Worlds and Olympics, so not a bad career by any measure.
Related - has anyone reached out to her for an interview? We basically know nothing about her current plans other than she moved to Dallas.

For what it's worth and it's got to be worth a lot. Mu either has one more world title or one more Olympic title than anyone else who's won in this era. And she has a bronze on top of all of that

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:31pm EST

re: Mu is not training

Mu is not training wrote:
no___deal wrote:
Somehow I'd find it very strange that being married to a 40 year old private equity bro and living in Dallas is truly this fulfilling for a 23 year old Olympic champion and aspiring model: "I’m super grateful for what the LORD has placed in my life and what he is doing in my life".
She has to be training. What else is there to do? Can't be in church all day every day.
FYI, there are many other things to do in life besides just running and church. So no, she doesn't "have to be training."

What else would Athing be doing? Her entire personality was just that. And a dog.

Does anyone have information if she was academically inclined. If yes, she might be studying something. Another probability is being pregnant. Her husband is 40 years old, not many reasons to wait much longer.

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:38pm EST

re: Talent wins?

Why did she always run on the outside of lane 1 on the bends????

3 months ago 02/19/2026 8:44pm EST

re: no___deal

no___deal wrote:
Mu is not training wrote:
FYI, there are many other things to do in life besides just running and church. So no, she doesn't "have to be training."
What else would Athing be doing?

You have a very narrow mind. Try to get out more.

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