I would guess scared to lose. I blame coaching. She’s just not racing enough to be confident and she’s looking at two other people running 155 and 156.
After reading yesterdays article about Athing Mu's decision about not running the World Championships had me wondering about what she is thinking.
Theory 1- burnout
She has been running at such a high level whether its been youth,high school,college, and pro levels for over a decade maybe she is just burned out and the desire to be the best is not there.
Theory 2- afraid to lose. She has had such a successful career over the past decade that she has only lost a handful of races and doesnt want to put herself in a race at Worlds that she is not the clear favorite.
Theory 1- discussion
I dont how much burnout she has had over the past 3 seasons. While she was at Texas A&M Athing run a limited number of races and didnt really even run the 800m more than a few times(4 to 5) during her freshman year. Im sure she ran more races from the ages 15 to 18 than she did from 19 to her current age of 21or 22.
Theory 2- discussion
Its ok if she loses at Worlds to Keely or Mary . Heck Athing lost an NCAA championship indoors to Kaeilin Roberts or Bailey Leer of USC not for sure who it was). Nonetheless she survived that loss and it didnt hurt her chances of getting a substanial contract with Nike after she dominated the outdoor season at NCAA's,USA's,and the Olympics.
Possible solutions
1. Add her to the mixed relay pool and let her run a couple 400's five or six days before the 800m heats. What a great addition to the relay pool as well as getting a solid workout before the 800m heats. I dont think running a couple quality 400's almost a week before her 800m heats is a bad idea prior to her 800m defense. Running on relays can help lower the stress level prior to ber 800m and will help Team USA bring a gold back where it belongs in an Event that the USA should always dominate.
Unfortunately she has the weight of track and field fans expectations weighing her down. Yes she’s a superstar and should race but she’s got to want to. We can’t want it more than she does. We should just root for those who want to race and let her find her way back.
I really think this could also happen to will sumner if we put more expectations on him. People hear what these boards say and it’s hard to forget it all.
I'm not gonna pretend I know enough about her background to comment on PED accusations so I'll stay out of that, but I do think the two theories from the OP are fairly ridiculous/unlikely compared to the possibility that her and her coach just want to optimize training for the Olympics (the only track & field event that 99% of the population knows exists) and aren't incentivized enough to compete at Worlds.
I'd like to clarify that I think it's bad for the sport that there's not enough incentive to compete at the World Championships, but that's World Athletics's fault and not Mu's.
What a dumb opinion that’s crazy. How are three races with two not even being all out, a year out from the olympics, going to hurt her chances ?
Imagine football players only competing in the world cup.
This message board is disheartening and hopeless (a sign for America ?). It's clear Americans are devastated at Athing's past successes and will also be devastated at her future successes. They must seemingly remove her from their ego's frame of reference. An ego that is immature, hopeless and will soon die because it cannot adapt to reality. They've now jumped at a fabrication to explain and rationalise away her success and superior ability with a desperate attempt, as is common on these boards, to associate her with PEDS. Decrepit cockroachs. Don't you remember what this woman was doing as a young teen ? Won't be surprised if they try to reframe that.
The 1500 and 800 are very different races. The list of runners who were successful at both is very short. The great 1500 runners of our time (Lagat, Jakob, etc.) have pretty lousy 800 prs and were way better moving up to 5000. Only complete freaks of nature like Snell were really able to be dominant at both.
Mu spent her entire season training for the 1500 under Kersee (a guy who is a sprint coach with minimal experience with middle distance runners). Now, she has to switch up and go back to the 800. Odds are pretty good that she is finding out the hard way that you can't just flip a switch and go back to the 800. So, she is probably freaking out and wondering why she bothered with the 1500 and is now a jack of all trades, master of none. Thus, the spin from Kersee is that Mu wants to model and might train through worlds. The reality is that Kersee messed her up by making her move up to the 1500 and cannot have her get smoked at worlds in the 800 which would just confirm to the world that Kersee screwed up.
The logic behind the decision of not running is so stupid. Worlds would consist of 3 races for her to run (ideally) and her running the first 2 rounds shouldn’t take anything out of her. Plus she’s barely raced at all this year and weirdly had the energy to run the 1500 at USAs but apparently not the 800 at worlds? Weird. As a fan and a competitive distance runner myself, it comes off as lazy unless she’s injured and can’t run. It’s also her job haha. Doesn’t she want to compete at the highest level?
You do know the hard part is the months of gruel training not the 3 round races. So it’s more about she didn’t put the required effort at training. If she’s fit and in form, running 3 rounds is nothing.
Your last sentence is literally restating what I already said haha. Again, unless she’s injured or failed a test or something, she’s straight up not doing her job. And that’s super lame when you’re a pro athlete, and the present isn’t gonna affect 2024 at all. Imagine the Denver Nuggets getting to the finals this year, and then Jokic decides to not play to focus on 2024…that would be absurd!
I do think the two theories from the OP are fairly ridiculous/unlikely compared to the possibility that her and her coach just want to optimize training for the Olympics (the only track & field event that 99% of the population knows exists) and aren't incentivized enough to compete at Worlds.
This itself is a ridiculous theory. On what planet would competing in an 800 at the World Championships a YEAR before the Olympics not be in an optimal training plan for the Olympics?
This itself is a ridiculous theory. On what planet would competing in an 800 at the World Championships a YEAR before the Olympics not be in an optimal training plan for the Olympics?
Save five more races in the legs in a compact period of time.
After reading yesterdays article about Athing Mu's decision about not running the World Championships had me wondering about what she is thinking.
Theory 1- burnout
She has been running at such a high level whether its been youth,high school,college, and pro levels for over a decade maybe she is just burned out and the desire to be the best is not there.
Theory 2- afraid to lose. She has had such a successful career over the past decade that she has only lost a handful of races and doesnt want to put herself in a race at Worlds that she is not the clear favorite.
Theory 1- discussion
I dont how much burnout she has had over the past 3 seasons. While she was at Texas A&M Athing run a limited number of races and didnt really even run the 800m more than a few times(4 to 5) during her freshman year. Im sure she ran more races from the ages 15 to 18 than she did from 19 to her current age of 21or 22.
Theory 2- discussion
Its ok if she loses at Worlds to Keely or Mary . Heck Athing lost an NCAA championship indoors to Kaeilin Roberts or Bailey Leer of USC not for sure who it was). Nonetheless she survived that loss and it didnt hurt her chances of getting a substanial contract with Nike after she dominated the outdoor season at NCAA's,USA's,and the Olympics.
Possible solutions
1. Add her to the mixed relay pool and let her run a couple 400's five or six days before the 800m heats. What a great addition to the relay pool as well as getting a solid workout before the 800m heats. I dont think running a couple quality 400's almost a week before her 800m heats is a bad idea prior to her 800m defense. Running on relays can help lower the stress level prior to ber 800m and will help Team USA bring a gold back where it belongs in an Event that the USA should always dominate.
OR MAYBE SHE HAS A MORE PROMISING CAREER IN MODELLING
After reading yesterdays article about Athing Mu's decision about not running the World Championships had me wondering about what she is thinking.
Theory 1- burnout
She has been running at such a high level whether its been youth,high school,college, and pro levels for over a decade maybe she is just burned out and the desire to be the best is not there.
Theory 2- afraid to lose. She has had such a successful career over the past decade that she has only lost a handful of races and doesnt want to put herself in a race at Worlds that she is not the clear favorite.
Theory 1- discussion
I dont how much burnout she has had over the past 3 seasons. While she was at Texas A&M Athing run a limited number of races and didnt really even run the 800m more than a few times(4 to 5) during her freshman year. Im sure she ran more races from the ages 15 to 18 than she did from 19 to her current age of 21or 22.
Theory 2- discussion
Its ok if she loses at Worlds to Keely or Mary . Heck Athing lost an NCAA championship indoors to Kaeilin Roberts or Bailey Leer of USC not for sure who it was). Nonetheless she survived that loss and it didnt hurt her chances of getting a substanial contract with Nike after she dominated the outdoor season at NCAA's,USA's,and the Olympics.
Possible solutions
1. Add her to the mixed relay pool and let her run a couple 400's five or six days before the 800m heats. What a great addition to the relay pool as well as getting a solid workout before the 800m heats. I dont think running a couple quality 400's almost a week before her 800m heats is a bad idea prior to her 800m defense. Running on relays can help lower the stress level prior to ber 800m and will help Team USA bring a gold back where it belongs in an Event that the USA should always dominate.
OR MAYBE SHE HAS A MORE PROMISING CAREER IN MODELLING
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