Should we all apologize to Bobby Kersee and Athing Mu? Mu 2nd in 1500 at USAs.

You forgot Lance was a "prodigy" - and so were Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Rashid Ramzi, and so many others. Until they were busted or exposed as dopers fans like you fawned over them with your adulation.

No top 400/800 runner is also a good 1500 runner - the events call for different abilities. The Olympic champion and 1:55 runner was a year ago unable to beat 4.37 for the mile, her then pr. In two races she has just effectively carved 14 seconds or more off that. Assuming she could probably currently run even faster than 4.03 the improvement is likely even greater. There isn't any more compelling evidence of doping than that in a sport that is rife with it.

I was absolutely wrong.

I did not think that Mu would break 4.10 and BK's words were just classic old coach hype. Wrong on both counts.

That whole race looked like it was slow motion and I was stunned at how poorly the more experienced 1500m runners did not push the pace from 600m to go which would have hurt her a lot more than the way they let the race unfold, but at the end of the day that really has no bearing on her clear potential and ability at the distance. 49.5/1.55.0/4.03.4 already is a very unique and stellar portfolio and I this emphasis on the 1500 is going to help her a lot with her 800m aspirations (far more so than focus on the 400).

She is far from her potential in the 1500.

In the interview linked below after her 4:03, she says that race was much slower than what pace she had been training at and that racing the 400 and 800 hurt way more than racing the 1500. She also expresses confidence she could run faster.

Athing Mu proud of big 1500 pb to take 2nd at 2023 US championships - YouTube

The pain of running a fast 1500 is different, but its still painful. If she believes that 1500 race pain is less, she could push harder/run a faster 1500.

Until she actually goes sub 4 she's not competitive at the international level. You failed at whatever you were trying to do.

It's quite possible that while Mu is toying around with the 1500 she's going to get surpassed by Keely in the 800. Mu can't afford to show up flat for the 800 at world's. What is the point of her doing 1500s?

Maybe Kersee believes it will help her get through 3 rounds of racing more effectively.

I'd say yes. Why not?! I am a huge fan of Mu, neutral on Kersee, but they sure exceeded my expectations which were far higher than yours. Sorry Bobby & Athing!

Give me a break. Mu beat a por (R Rogers) when she was a nearly unknown HS runner because she has that drive inside. Match that with her running form and yes, she can run 49 all the way to 3:59 for a 1500 after what we saw. Rod Dixon was a top miler and marathoner, which seems at least as extreme a dichotomy to me as Mu's bread talent. Watch her run and I have trouble imagining her limits. 😀

Id love to know what jarmila took,what her doses were and when she started her drug taking.Certainly by the moscow olympics she already looked like a guy.She was hard core !

i apologize completely.

personally i was looking for Mu to go 48 high in the 400, rather than 1500.

with a 49 400, and say 355 1500, how does that compute to the 800.

this is completely new territory for women.

i call out dopers for the last 20 years on various posts, with "great" results.

with Mu, she does not have the slam dunk PED profile, and certainly not steroids.

unfortunately I'm not in the loop with the latest greatest peptides, and "legal" supplements, but say Mu is NOT on the traditional cocktail, of FloJo, Ma's army, iron curtain, Jamaica express of bolt, asafa, blake, nor the iberian atlas runners.

Yeah, OK. To my eyes, that performance tells me she has a sub 4 performance in her. I would predict that she could do it, in other words, but fair enough point.

Awwwwww sweetie.

Saying all those vague words like you have any idea what you're talking about.

You're kewt.

Why did she run the entire race on the outside of lane 1? She added about 15m of distance to her race without any reason to do so.

I don't know but was still surprised she didn't have the strongest kick off a relatively slow pace. She may get there but she's not even close to being as good in the 1500 as the 800. Just focus on the 800.

Great analysis. I agree. I think Mu has a good shot at breaking the 800 world record this year; at the minimum I expect she's going to run 1:53.xx in August. As Kersee said, he calculates that she needs to be in sub 3:59 1500m shape to go 1:52. It is not implausible that they can continue to improve her fitness and get her there by Worlds, especially considering she may have even been able to put up a better time in this race with more racing experience and I highly doubt this is her physical peak for the year. I'm looking forward to fireworks from her either this year or next year for sure.

who's "we?" it was never a bad idea.

A person who runs ~ 4:20 pace for 200m less than a mile is certainly capable of faster than 4:37.

You ignored perfectly solid touch points and now are the only one shocked.

Mu hasn’t improved much in the last 1.5 years. She simply made another attempt. Ran slower and finished faster.