Athing Mu-Nikolayev eager for return to Hayward Field for 50th Prefontaine Classic
'The lead up to this has been really great for me,' she said Thursday. 'I've definitely been in a good spot mentally. It's obviously not the most convenient for it to be my first 800m (since last July 19) in this really fast race, but I think I've kind of gotten over that point and just recognized that, hey, we are 1,000 percent really great where we're at with training. This is a great field. This is an opportunity for me.'
Mu-Nikolayev will line up Saturday along with reigning world champion Mary Moraa of Kenya and Olympic silver medalist Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, among others, at Pre (NBC and Peacock, 4-6 p.m. ET).
Already at the new Hayward Field, Mu-Nikolayev has broken the NCAA 400m record (49.57, 2021), made her first Olympic team in a personal-best time (2021, en route to Tokyo Olympic 800m gold), won a world title (2022) and broken the American record in the 800m (1:54.97, 2023).
She was the youngest U.S. woman to win individual Olympic track and field gold (age 19) since Wyomia Tyus in the 100m at the 1964 Tokyo Games. She is the youngest woman in history to own Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event.
Her Hayward magic wasn't there in 2024, however. She tore a hamstring about six weeks before the Olympic Trials.
Then in the trials final in Eugene, Mu-Nikolayev and Raevyn Rogers' legs appeared to make contact about 200 meters into the race. Mu-Nikolayev fell. She got up and finished ninth. Her Olympic title defense was over before she could board a plane to Paris.
She still went to the French capital with her training group and was a few miles away from Stade de France when the Olympic women's 800m final took place, according to the Southern California News Group.
'It was very hard,' said her coach, Bobby Kersee, according to the report. 'My philosophy of coaching is to put her right back in it, right away. And she tolerated me as a coach. It was tough for me, and it was tough for her.'
A month after the Games, Mu-Nikolayev announced that she and Yegor Nikolayev were engaged. They got married this past March.
Then she returned to competition with low-key races in April (using a 5000m as a 3000m workout) and May (1500m wins in 4:21 and 4:10).
So Saturday will be Mu-Nikolayev's first time in a top-level meet since the Olympic Trials. She called it 'a really anticipated race,' but one that she's stressing over with results-based goals.
'Getting back to kind of the basics of what has made me one of the best 800m runners,' she said. 'Just feeling that on Saturday, I think, is the most important thing rather than hitting a specific time.'
Nick Zaccardi,
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