But it will also give them data to input into those on-track equations. This training duality will tax their legs and wage psychological torment on their minds. That star would train for both events, emphasizing speed one day and endurance (with speed) the next. That same star would also at least be above average (relative to world-class competitors) in the 1,500-meter run. The ideal 800 star would excel at the 400 meters, meaning they possess top-level speed at a distance that’s longer than the short sprints. As Price describes the strategy involved, it sounds like she’s laying out a complex math equation, one that runners must solve while trucking forward at near-maximum speed and factoring in things like weather, their competitors, spacing, shoes, the track underfoot, how they feel that day, even what lane they started in. The 800 does that, though, to those bold enough to accept its inherent cruelty. (Writer aside: really? Running? Are we talking about the same sport?) Price wishes she could have heard that when she was 20 and her own career was ascending. Price hears Mu cackle at this ha-ha-ha pressure, insisting she “doesn’t let it” get to her, that running, at the highest level in the world, is meant to be an exercise in fun, a utilization of gifts. She sighs, then adds, “I put way too much pressure on myself.” By then, she had already “lost that joy,” she says. By then, she was 18, headed to Tennessee on a track scholarship and dreaming of Olympic glory. Back in 2008, she ran the second-fastest 800 ever for a female American high schooler. Just ask Chanelle Price, or any other 800-meter specialist who’s either forced into that distance or off-kilter enough to try. “Because that’s a difficult race to run.” “You have to appreciate these people who come along and are generational talents, and not try to explain it, or understand it, or fit it into any paradigm you had about the sport.” “She just makes it look so easy,” Joyner says. Mu will look to hold her world-leading time in Sunday’s 800-meter final.Īs Al Joyner, an Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump and longtime track coach, watched Mu glide and dominate, she looked effortless, undeterred, even exultant-like the 800 presented no greater challenge than a stroll to the mailbox.

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