Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone pulls out of LA Grand Prix

I agree with you that Mu has more potential at 400 but I think indirectly Bobby is hinting that Sydney is a better 400 runner than Mu (at least right now) so if he wants to put his athletes in positions to win golds, it would not make sense to have Mu compete against Syd.

If you read the article, he also sounds more confident in Sydney's abilities to break the 400 WR, for example comparing her talent to a combination of the all-time greats JJK and FloJo, saying she was capable of sub-50 last year, not wanting to reveal her "secrets", etc. While with Mu, he's laying out a strategy of what she YET needs to do in order to get the 800 WR by talking about the time she needs to hit in the 1500 to achieve the anaerobic threshold required.

Long story short, it is better for Mu to focus on the 800 solely for now and if the 1500 will help her get the 800 WR, then I say go for it.

Mu has to race at USAs at least one round of something in order to get her wild card for worlds. I believe she also gets the USA meet entry exemption for the event one up (1500) or one down (400) as the returning USA champ.

Mu running the 1500 at USAs is the simplest place to check the box to get to Budapest. Zero expectation. Zero training required. Just get on the line and jog for 4 and half minutes. If she were to run the 400 or 800 at USA, that comes with a ton of expectation (therefore hard training and pressure to perform at our highest level). It’s sort of a no-brainer. Mu doesn’t have to battle the incredible depth at the 800 or 400 in the USA and just cruise right into Budapest with confidence intact. That’s not to say Mu wouldn’t win either the 800 or 400 at USA, but it would take some work on her part and some race sharpness.

Now, as far as Mu running the 1500 in Paris, I wouldn’t put anything past the talent and champion that she is, but for BK to be talking about Gold in 2024 in the 1500m is a complete lack of respect for the distance and the training required. If Mu can one off a sub 4:04 1500 or a sub 4:22 mile in the next 12 months, then color me faintly optimistic, but I just don’t see that happening. 1500 athletes have to actually do some endurance training and not the kind that most 4/800 athletes know or care to do.

This is the only logic that would make running the 1500 make sense to me. If Kersee thinks she needs to get stronger to run the 800 WR, then sure, run a few 1500's this year. Heck, do it at USAs if she wants to really test herself (though the 400 vs SML would be way more fun). But if the goal is double gold in Paris, she needs to be doing the 400/800.

From the outside, it just seems as if he is having her run the 1500 so that he can avoid having his two star athletes race against each other in the 400.

Terrible that BK is placed in this situation again and again where the prize money is so insulting he has to slide out of what fans want to see and place his stars in training races.

He wouldn’t have to look very far to see Rai Benjamin and Michael Norman who train together and race each other.
The funny thing is it’s also not like it’s just Faith Kipyegon. Gudaf Tsegay is all-time level good, Laura Muir is tough as nails and Welteji has 1:57 speed and 3k strength. She will be runnjng 3:53-4 soon enough. It’s just not gonna happen.

Welteji is an example of why I don't think it's impossible that Mu could be a factor at 1500. I just don't like to doubt prodigies. Mu would have to work at it but if she does she'll make the vast majority of 1500 specialists look silly. Since we haven't seen her race we don't know if she has been working on the aerobic aspect already.

What you should have done is contact Sydney and ask her if she irritated her hamstring. I bet she won't say yes.

You're very gullible. Bobby Kersee is just making sh!t up because he likes to be in the news. He KNOWS that Athing Mu has ZERO shot to win the Olympics in the 1500.

Because Mu probably didn't get Covid, that's why. I mean how often does Kersee tell the truth? Not that often.

Relax. Mu won't be running the 1500 seriously. This is just a bunch of BS by Kersee.

Wake up! Kersee fooled you. Mu won't be training for the 1500. Kersee is just a clown with a big mouth, that's all. And you fell for it.

Right now Mu doesn't even want to put in the training required for the 800. She wants to model.

Zero chance that Mu puts in serious 1500 training.

There's only so long that Sydney and Athing will put up with that kind of BS. One or the other will leave Kersee in the next year or two.

Especially if SML is asked to answer the question after being reminded how God watches over our every word and gets disappointed when wē shalt bear false witness.

From the statement that Sydney released it was obvious that she wanted to run. And she wouldn't have wanted to run if she had just injured her hamstring. Which means that Bobby Kersee is full of sh!t.

But what if she did, and she's a "long holler" or gets Thicc COVID -- thus A Bun Dance of Caution now

Bobby Kersee knows that Athing Mu isn't in great shape right now because of her extended break from training in the fall, and her recent emphasis on modeling. Which means that Athing might not run as fast this summer as many people expect, and Bobby Kersee doesn't want to get blamed for it.

So he is already setting up the excuse that he is going to use in June and July.

"Well, Athing was really training great, but then she got Covid in May and she couldn't recover fast enough."

She had Covid almost exactly a year ago, and this was the excuse why she didn’t run Pre. Now she has another bout of May Covid? Hmmm, I’m skeptical to say the least. Anyway, 2nd time around with Covid, it’s generally a pretty trivial event for a young healthy person like Mu. It would be a stretch to think this would derail her summer if she is +.

Last May when Athing Mu had Covid she came right out and said she had Covid.

This year she doesn't say a peep, but her coach claims she had Covid? Give me a break. I don't believe it.