The reigning Olympic and world champion within the girls’s 800m, Athing Mu, is unsure whether or not she’ll be in Budapest on the 2023 World Championships to defend her 800m title later this month.
In an interview with the LA Occasions, her coach Bobby Kersee mentioned that he and Mu are contemplating two choices: defending her title on the world championships or coaching by way of the remainder of the season to give attention to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Because the reigning champion, Mu gained automated qualification into the 800m at these championships. She additionally certified for the 1,500m by inserting second at U.S. Trials, giving up her spot to Sinclaire Johnson to give attention to the 800m.
“It’s in our management if we resolve we’re simply going to go forward and prepare by way of this 12 months and give attention to subsequent 12 months, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Kersee mentioned to the LA Occasions. “The coaching goes properly however our thought course of, overtly, is that we’re going to only prepare right here in L.A. for the subsequent two weeks and the subsequent time she will get on the aircraft it’ll both be on trip or to Budapest.”
With three weeks till the heats spherical of the ladies’s 800m on Aug. 23, Kersee mentioned the choice continues to be pending. Regardless of the uncertainty, Mu will declare for the world championships, and her assured spot because the reigning world champion means her resolution gained’t have an effect on one other U.S. runner’s spot.
Many monitor followers are questioning Kersee’s logic, since Mu has solely raced one 800m this season–a 1:58.73 win on the New York Grand Prix in June. Some speculate that both Kersee will not be assured in her preparations, or that she could also be getting back from a coaching harm, although Kersee mentioned he’s conscious of managing Mu’s workload and balancing the calls for of the tight timeline.
Mu was listed on the beginning listing to compete within the 400m at this weekend’s Ed Murphey Traditional in Memphis, Tenn. Kersee mentioned she has withdrawn and can stay in Los Angeles to coach.
This isn’t the primary time within the final month that monitor followers have questioned Kersee’s decision-making. After his different athlete, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, gained the USATF Monitor and Subject Championships within the 400m, he mentioned the 400m hurdles world file holder and reigning champion will solely compete over the 400m distance in Budapest, even though the occasions are scheduled on completely different days.
The 21-year-old Mu holds the American file within the 800m and is the eighth-fastest lady in historical past over the gap, with a better of 1:55.04. The ladies’s 800m semifinals are scheduled for Aug. 25, with the ultimate happening on Aug. 27.
