Athing Mu

On February 27, she broke the indoor collegiate and under-20 world records for the 800 meters with a timing of 1:58.40. By more over two seconds, she beat the previous collegiate record. Mu set the 800 meter USA collegiate record outdoors on April 17 in Waco, Texas, clocking 1:57.73. On June 12, 2021, she won the 400-meter event at the 2021 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, reducing her collegiate all-time record time to 49.57 seconds. Later that day, she anchored the Texas A&M Women’s 4 400 m relay team to victory and a new collegiate record of 3:22.34.

At the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Mu won the event with a timing of 1:56.07, the second-fastest mark in American history and a qualification time for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She took home two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics for the women’s 4 x 400 relay and the women’s 800 meters. Mu dominated her solo event from start to finish, finishing above Keely Hodgkinson and compatriot Raevyn Rogers. With a time of 1 minute, 55.21 seconds, she broke the American record for women’s 800 meters, breaking a 53-year Olympic winless streak for the USA.

At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Madeline Manning became the last American woman to win the competition (first Olympic 800m male or female win since Dave Wottle at the Munich 1972). Since Wyomia Tyus won the 100 m gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Mu became the youngest American woman to win an individual Olympic track & field title. She became the second-fastest U20 woman ever after Pamela Jelimo in her first post-Olympic race at the Prefontaine Classic, setting an even better American 800 m record of one minute 55.04 seconds while simultaneously breaking the all-comers mark. She is now ranked eighth all-time in the world.

With a world-record time of 1:56.30, Mu won the women’s 800 m gold at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July. This time, she just managed to hold off Hodgkinson. She won by 0.08 seconds following a nail biter on the home stretch, with Mary Moraa in third place. As a result, Mu became the first American woman to win the 800 m world championship title as well as the youngest woman in history to win both the Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field competition. Additionally, she increased her winning streak outside to nearly three years, since she hadn’t suffered a defeat outside since September 2019.

Her greatest rival is English athlete, Keely Hodgkinson. She won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by shattering the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995.

Athing Mu, the second youngest of seven children, was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. Her family is of South Sudanese descent. Her parents are immigrants from South Sudan to the United States. When she was six years old, she started taking part in track competitions. Mu decided to participate for Trenton Track Club rather than the track team at her high school. The year  2020 saw her complete her high school education at Trenton Central High School.

She is now dating Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller is a middle-distance runner from the United States who specializes in the 800 meters. They first met while attending Texas A&M University and started dating each other in August 2021.