Athing Mu needs to stop doing the Antonio Pettigrew maneuver

Unfortunately for Mu, her coach is a former sprinter, not an 800 runner.

Because he doesn't have experience in the 800 he leaves the race tactics up to each of his 800 runners to decide for themselves.

Athing Mu isn't that great at 800 race tactics and her coach doesn't help her, so that ends up creating a problem.

Hopefully the fact that she came very close to losing to Keely will teach her a lesson and she learns to start running closer to the rail.

Mu explained that she likes to be off the rail because it's easier to avoid contact that way, which makes sense given that she's a tall runner with a very long back kick. It would be easier for her to get clipped from behind if she ran right on the rail because someone would be directly behind her. Running slightly off the rail, the runners behind her are slightly to her side giving her more leg room.

Furthermore, the armchair analysts on this forum might at least try to remember that Athing Mu is an Olympic gold medalist, World champion, American record holder, and hasn't lost an 800 since she was in high school... She clearly knows how to run the event the way that works for her and doesn't need rando message board posters trying to mansplain to her how she "should" be running it.

You made that up. That's NOT what she said.

Right after the 800 final a reporter asked Mu why she runs on the outside of lane one. Mu said that she doesn't pay attention to where in the lane she runs.

So that's the real answer. She doesn't pay attention. She said so herself.

Hopefully she starts paying attention now.

So, we are complaining about how one World Champion reminds you of another World Champion.

Definitely first world problems.

From my calculus Athing Mu at least run 2 meters more than what has run Keely.

And I took minimal conditions for these conditions:

- I counted only the second 400m of the race

- Athing Mu running 50 cm out of line 1.

Pettigrew was all by himself and all the way into lane 2. Mu had close pursuers and was on the outside of one but not at all in two. Her position allowed her to block perfectly, even if it risks setting up a collision. Keely would have had to slow down and go to the outside of two. Kudos to Mu for her innate race savvy in this case.

I agree that most of the time she gives up a few meters each race unnecessarily, but she doesn't ever look back so goes to a default blocking mode to make her space. This gives her an aura on the track where no one dares encroach. Whoever causes her to fall would not be forgiven easily. Like stepping on the queen's cloak.

Pettigrew ran a 43.2 split. Helluvah maneuver.

Say it louder for the people in the back!!!

I hope she really takes all the advice in here and then she can start to win more. She has been really bad at the 800 so far.

Race savvy?? What in the world are you talking about?

Mu said in the interview after the final that she was on the outside of lane one by accident, because she wasn't paying attention. So that's the correct answer. She wasn't paying attention. She said so herself.

So you would advise your 800 runners to run on the outside of lane one? Of course you wouldn't.

She left just enough room to make Keely think she could sneak on the inside. But the space wasn't really there. Brilliant!

Quoted from LRC article:
"We asked Mu why she drifted to the outside of lane 1 as she entered the home straight of the race and she said that it was not a conscious decision. She said she often prefers to run on the outside of the lane to prevent any sort of contact that could lead to a fall, but in this case it was simply a case of being exhausted."

As a general statement, what I said was correct. Maybe she wasn't consciously thinking about runnning wide in lane 1 in that exact moment (coming off the final turn in the WC final), but she has a long history of running wide and she explained why right there.

Also of note, she ran the entire Tokyo 2021 final the same way and comes off all the turns wide:

Haha cute. Let me guess, you're a middle-aged white male, never married? How close am I?

As anyone who has watched lots of Mu's races knows, she runs on the outside of the lane even when no one else is around, so obviously that has nothing to do with avoiding contact.

She also often runs on the outside of the lane when she runs a 400, and she has the lane all to herself, so once again it's not because she is avoiding contact, because in a 400 she has the lane all to herself.

It wasn't a race tactic and it wasn't brilliant.

In her interview after the final Mu admitted that she ran on the outside of lane one because she wasn't paying attention. If you are such a big Mu fan, why don't you watch her interviews to hear what she has to say rather than just making stuff up?

It appears even top runners aren't always thinking out there. Tactical mistakes can prove costly. At some point it will catch up with Mu. No athlete is invincible, however good they are.

If it results in an Olympic Gold and World Championship, yes I would. Seems like she knows something that we don’t.

I'm glad this is getting cleared up by the experts here as I haven't be able to sleep properly for a while now worrying about it.

Has a definitive answer been posted yet?