Athing Mu clocked 1:55.21 to win the women’s 800 meters title at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and win many hearts around the world, but where does her performance rank on the women’s 800m all-time list.
The teenage prodigy is trending toward becoming the face of USA middle distance running and is even being tipped to dominate the two-lap event for many years to come.
She introduced herself to the global world with a standout performance on her Olympic debut and then admitted that she was kind of expecting the win after the first two rounds.
Mu put away a very strong field to become the first American to win the Olympic 800m since Madeline Manning won the title at the 1968 Games, while setting a new national record and moved up to the No. 11 position on the all-time list behind the 1:53.28 world record of Czech Republic’s Jarmila Kratochvílová, set back in 1983.
She improved the previous 1:55.61 American record of Ajee’ Wilson in a race to produced four personal bests, two national records and a season’s best.
“It’s awesome. I feel like I’ve just accomplished one of my goals. I just wanted to be a medalist,” Mu, the 19-year-old star who was born to South Sudanese parents who migrated to the United States over 20 years ago, told reporters after her victory.
“I wasn’t really putting gold on that, but as it got closer to the final today, I was like, ‘Yeah, we want gold.’ “
Women’s 800m All-time List
| 1 | 1:53.28 | WR | Jarmila Kratochvílová | CZE | 26 Jan 51 | 1 | München | 26 Jul 1983 | ||
| 2 | 1:53.43 | NR | Nadezhda Olizarenko | UKR | 28 Nov 53 | 1 | OG | Moskva | 27 Jul 1980 | |
| 3 | 1:54.01 | AR WU20R | Pamela Jelimo | KEN | 5 Dec 89 | 1 | WK | Zürich | 29 Aug 2008 | |
| 4 | 1:54.25 | NR | Caster Semenya | RSA | 7 Jan 91 | 1 | Meet Paris | Paris | 30 Jun 2018 | |
| 5 | 1:54.44 | AR | Ana Fidelia Quirot | CUB | 23 Mar 63 | 1 | Barcelona | 9 Sep 1989 | ||
| 6 | 1:54.81 | NR | Olga Mineyeva | RUS | 1 Sep 52 | 2 | OG | Moskva | 27 Jul 1980 | |
| 7 | 1:54.94 | Tatyana Kazankina | RUS | 17 Dec 51 | 1 | OG | Montréal | 26 Jul 1976 | ||
| 8 | 1:55.05 | NR | Doina Melinte | ROU | 27 Dec 56 | 1 | Bucureşti | 1 Aug 1982 | ||
| 9 | 1:55.19 | NR | Maria Mutola | MOZ | 27 Oct 72 | 1 | WK | Zürich | 17 Aug 1994 | |
| 9 | 1:55.19 | NR | Jolanda Batagelj | SLO | 12 Sep 76 | 1 | NA | Heusden | 20 Jul 2002 | |
| 11 | 1:55.21 | NR AU20R | Athing Mu | USA | 8 Jun 02 | 1 | OG | Tokyo | 3 Aug 2021 | |
| 12 | 1:55.26 | NR NU23R | Sigrun Wodars | GER | 7 Nov 65 | 1 | WC | Roma | 31 Aug 1987 | |
| 13 | 1:55.32 | Christine Wachtel | GER | 6 Jan 65 | 2 | WC | Roma | 31 Aug 1987 | ||
| 14 | 1:55.42 | NR NU23R | Nikolina Shtereva | BUL | 21 Jan 55 | 2 | OG | Montréal | 26 Jul 1976 | |
| 15 | 1:55.46 | Tatyana Providokhina | RUS | 26 Mar 53 | 3 | OG | Moskva | 27 Jul 1980 | ||
| 16 | 1:55.47 | NR | Francine Niyonsaba | BDI | 5 May 93 | 2 | Herc | Monaco | 21 Jul 2017 | |
| 17 | 1:55.54 | NR | Ellen van Langen | NED | 9 Feb 66 | 1 | OG | Barcelona | 3 Aug 1992 | |
| 17 | 1:55.54 | AR WYB19 | Liu Dong | CHN | 24 Dec 73 | 1 | NG | Beijing | 9 Sep 1993 | |
| 19 | 1:55.56 | Lyubov Gurina | RUS | 6 Aug 57 | 3 | WC | Roma | 31 Aug 1987 | ||
| 20 | 1:55.60 | Elfi Zinn | GER | 24 Aug 53 | 3 | OG | Montréal | 26 Jul 1976 |
Source: Tilastopaja
Simone Goss has been with World-Track since 2003 and has done outstanding work at the back end to help out with traveling and other meeting related activities. Goss has also done work for SportingEagles, Blaze News and other media outlets.
