Athing Mu may skip 2023 World Championships and focus on 2024

I realise now this unwarranted heavy negativity will never stop. The young woman is the best, but what she represents is an ego and existential threat to many who've jumped at the right juncture, the appearing of opportune issue (her choosing not to race) in order to skew and distort her narrative and how she's perceived. On a predominantly American message they'll do that while crying Keely, Keely, Keely, who is British and was handedly beaten by Moraa the other day (a similar framework to attack her is appearing).

Or, maybe, Americans are justified in our disappointment that one of our best runners has barely raced this year and is contemplating skipping the world championships despite her coach saying “the training is going well”.

I’ve defended Mu (and SML) multiple times on this board, and I want Mu to be happy, even if that means quitting track entirely to pursue her modeling dream. But the prospect of her not running is still disappointing.

It'd be even funnier if a dozen or so british athletes also finally got bested.I know id laugh.

Thank for this. Looking at the math on the Diamond League website, there’s $26,000 in prize money for each Diamond League event at meet, and 14 of those at each meet, except the final, so $364,000 in prize money at 14 different meets, and then $60,000 for each of the 16 events at the Diamond League final.

That all adds up to $5,096,000 in prize money for the Diamond League regular season and then $1,920,000 for the final.

Yes, the elephant in the room is that Athing minus running is not equal to a model. Yes, lovely smile and tall/thin, but she walks, and would have walked, zero runways without being a famous runner. So she can certainly believe what she wants, but if running is taking a backseat (or ending), she will need a new career, because modeling opportunities will disappear quickly.

Now, if she's accomplished all there is for her in running, God bless. But she is a delusional, entitled young lady if she thinks modeling will just be there for her because she's such a talent.

Yep. No doubt about it.

She’s protected by officials, just like Kipyegon. It won’t happen.

Nothing new. Other greats such as Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson both quit golf young in their prime and the height of their fame. Jones went on to build Augusta National; Nelson bought a ranch. Let's appreciate the shooting stars while we had them, Mu included.

This is probably a ruse to get attention

Jones won the Masters at 32. He was just starting to win at age 21.

Wow!

I wanna say WTF!...But I'll leave room for the real reason (potentially) from Mu and or Kersee. I'm a bit shocked that BK would support this, and I'm inclined to believe that he doesn't. BK knows that the window of success in an athlete's career is small, and to not strike while the iron is WHITE HOT is just stupid. The one thing you NEVER do as an athlete is take for granted your ability and success. If you read between the lines of BK's comments, he never suggests that it's his idea to sit her out the remainder of the season. Rather, he eludes to the fact the Athing is not all in right now, and instead of going through the motions and potentially damaging her brand, she should get her mind right and come back next year for the Olympics and win...and then retire. An Olympic Gold carries way more credibility than a WC Gold. By self admission, Mu is conflicted between modeling and running and there's nothing wrong with that. She's experienced a tremendous amount of success in a relative short period of time and may need a break. I believe Sydney M is facing the same challenge, and is struggling with the validity of her success.

They've earned the right to walk away when they choose.

. . . as did Sandy Koufax & Jim Brown . . .

I would penalize her greatly if I was Nike.

Wrong and wrong. Mu is 21.

And Ash Barty

Yeah, look at Koufax's last several years. Talk about finishing on top. But his arm was gone and he made the call to finish on top.

Yep. I can see KH, MM, and AM all on a billboard advertising this race. It will not be the same without Mu. Not only that, her fitness will come into question a bit given her lack of races. There is so much potential for drama here that it is excruciating to imagine her backing out.

I still believe that she needs the team vibes from her TX A&M days, running the 4x4, etc. Now, it's just pressure, pressure, pressure. She could be up in St. Moritz now with the others training and living the life before Worlds.

Mu certainly has the agency to do whatever she wants. But to quote Crash Davis from Bull Durham, "You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt. You got a Hall-of-Fame arm, but you're pissing it away." This is ultimately how I feel about Mu. Holy cow, you are the best all around 400 to 1500 middle distance runner since the dopers in the 80's and yet you can't be bothered to go out and compete? It's not only insane, it's squandering an immense talent.

Bobby Jones never won the Masters. He retired at 28 after winning the single season Grand Slam, years before he founded Augusta National.

After retirement Jones went to Hollywood to film a series of golf instructional videos. They are really good. He got paid a huge sum given standards of that era.

By the time he launched the Masters, Jones hadn't played competitively in years. He played in a ceremonial role and during the first couple of years there was hype and hope that he might have a chance. That soon faded when he wasn't contending and it became obvious his game wasn't a priority.