Athing Mu DESTROYS Rome Diamond League field. 1:57.01 WL

I agree that she moved up to avoid Koch; but Mu is nothing like as fast at 400m and rewatching video of the 1.53 WR I don't see that coming either sorry. High 1.54s of course is pretty much a formality, low 1.54s if she is lucky but probably most the improvement at 800 has already come.

Not sure quite what you mean but times wise I would agree, I think Mu is near her peak and Keely isn't. Partly its because Mu has been racing for an incredibly long time already - age 10 I think she started. Keely still may not catch her of course. Hutchings said the other day she needs to find another whole second at 400m to challenge Mu.

Mu will certainly be the favorite going into worlds, but I don't think this run was more impressive than Hodgkinson's 1:57.20 indoors back in February.

I agree, especially in a championship race without a rabbit. At this point, I think Hodgkinson can run 57/58 off just about any pace. The question, then, is how fast is Mu willing to take it out to make that 58 meaningless? With a pacer, you don't need to judge it, without, she will need to be sure she doesn't overcook it - and we've seen with her mile efforts that overcooking is a possibility. Like I said, Mu remains favourite, but it's a mistake to pin the gold on her now.

On another note: we should be grateful that the 800 has two amazing talents right now who both look like they're loving being good and the attention that goes with it. There's no angst with those two, just good vibes

Unlikely.Teen phenoms dont usually have long careers.Alyson felix had a long career,and she was a teen phenom,but thats very rare,almost unheard of.

Oh shes doped to the gills alright.And as much as i like mu,i have suspicions about her,as well.The only teenagers who have run as fast as them are caster semenya and pamela jelimo.Even the best russians have rarely run as fast as hodgkinson and mu.....let that sink in....teenage girls cant run 1.55.Even the best doped seniors struggle to run 1.55.

It's crazy how long she's been running at a high level. According to this article she was at the track at age 5 and she won the club nationals as a 9 year old!

milesplit.com

Athing Mu Is Not Your Average 15-Year-Old Superstar

Lincoln Shryack

Trenton Central student Athing Mu isn\'t your average 15-year-old superstar on the track.

Open link

You're a clown. You know Keely is doped to the gills, but you only have 'suspicions' about Mu, even though Mu is the same age and is running faster? Not to mention she is American and USA has a recent history of distance running busts and scandals, unlike GB. And you repeatedly spam the claim that EVERYBODY dopes, so to accuse a particular athlete of doping for running fast is meaningless. You may as well ask yourself why others are running slow when they are doped too.

But this is the way it works here. You can either claim that everybody is doping, or you can claim that nobody is doping. If you take the reasonable middle position and agree with WADA that runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Algeria, Russia are more likely to be doping than others, you get branded a racist.

Yes and most athletes improve for in the region of 7-10 years, whether elite or lower level. (Yes I know we can all dig out some exceptions but I believe they're in a small minority).

This is a good thread.

The race I want to see is Mu and Hodgkinson AND Kipyegon in an 800. What are peoples thoughts on that?

All elite athletes dope.its part of the sport.including mu.There,i said it.Shes american so shes a doper,because all americans are on drug cocktails.They often start in high school.If athing was kenyan there'd be an outcry on here,with everyone saying shes intersex,or on drugs(even though shes femenine).If keely was russian,you'd all be saying shes doped out of her brains.so no more middle ground.Keely and athing are on drugs.Teenagers cant run 1.55 clean.I agree with WADA,but i also think britain,netherlands,france,spain ,norway, jamaica poland and switzerland are doping their elite athletes. .USA is the worst offender,by far.Yes,im a clown.but im also right.

I understand what you are saying, I guess if Mu is physically mature at this point then 1:53 will not happen, but if she isn't and gets a little stronger then it is a possibility. I know the 1:53 is an unworldly record but that is why we watch these athletes and races because the anticipation is fun. Anyway I really like Mu's demeanor and I root for her no matter what, she has made the Woman's 800M one of the best events to watch.

You are very wise indeed.

I honestly think Athing Mu's better in races without rabbits tbh. Look at her splits at the Olympics compare to here and her splits in Eugene last year. She ran completely evenly (actually negative split by about 0.5s) compared to Eugene where she completely blew up and here where she positive split by about 3-3.2 seconds.

Mutola won 11 World or Olympic titles at 800m. Mu might as well, but not 'soon'!

In professional sports, this is what's known as a "make-up call".

Attack her character on the FRONT PAGE, then post a thread praising her, when you knew you were wrong.

We finally agree on something.

Hard to say based on this race. Everyone else faded and Athing just cruised to victory. She makes it look so effortless. Makes you wonder if she could have kicked it into another gear if anyone was even remotely close to her during the last 100m.

No, they all faded. Mu lost (slowed) 3.8s on lap 2, it's just that Lamote lost 4.9s. Link to splits: http://static.sportresult.com/sports/at/data/2022/rome/are1110040.pdf