Running News Daily

Athing Mu finally opens up on the pain of failing to make US team to Paris 2024 Olympics

Athing Mu reflected on her challenging season, marked by injuries and disappointment at the US Olympic trials, but remains hopeful, trusting in her faith for a major comeback.

Athing Mu has for the first time expressed her emotions after her unfortunate fall at the US Olympic trials earlier this season.

The former Olympic 800m champion got an injury earlier in the season and had to start her campaign at the US Olympic trials. She had been confirmed to open her season at the Prefontaine Classic but had to withdraw due to the injury.

Mu was off to a great start at the trials, finishing third in her heat before winning the semifinal. In the final, the unfortunate happened as she fell down and faded to a ninth-place finish. Athing Mu tried to bounce back at the Holloway Pro Classic but could only afford a fifth-place finish and ended her season there.

Speaking on the Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo show, Athing Mu pointed out that her season turned out awful and it was something she never expected. She was hopeful of defending her title but after the injury, reality started dawning on her that she might the Olympic Games.

However, she felt ready to get back to the track at the US Olympic trials and making it to the final was a confidence booster for her but things did not go as planned in the final.

“Olympic trials were a very tough time and I guess, just this whole in season part of the year has been really tough because a lot of things have happened, leading up and then post-Olympic trials. About six weeks before the Olympic trials, I tore my hamstring and that was the first thing we needed to heal from before going into the Olympic trials,” Athing Mu said.

“When that happened, I was still kind of hopeful about the Olympic trials but I didn’t know what was going to happen but the idea of going and winning was a little bit diminishing because I knew that healing a hamstring was a pretty tough injury to speed up.

“Making it to the Olympic trials was great and I gained a little bit of confidence throughout the rounds and then running the final, super unfortunate, I did not expect that to happen at all. I was absolutely distraught but finishing the race, I can’t really say,” she added.

After the Olympic trials, she dealt with a lot of emotions before finally getting back into training. After a few training sessions in Europe, she got another injury and could not continue with her season.

She revealed that having to end her season in such a way was devastating but she had to trust in her strong faith.

“I actually broke down a little bit and I didn’t know if I could do it and I decided to get myself together and just trust in what the LORD would do at the end of the season. when I went to train in Europe, I got another injury and knew this season was done,” she said.