Athing Mu’s dramatic fall is the most heartbreaking moment of the US Olympic track trials

One of the world’s top track stars and biggest gold medal favorites for Team USA will not be going to next month’s Olympic Games.

Reigning Olympic women’s 800-meter champion and American record-holder Athing Mu saw her Paris dreams dashed in stunning fashion at Monday’s qualifying final at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

About 200 meters into the race, Mu got tangled up while positioning herself among the group of runners, sending her tumbling to the ground and on her back. She was the only runner to fall to the track, and by the time she returned to her feet, she was well adrift from the rest of the field.

While Mu tried her best to catch up to the other runners, it was already too late. As she crossed the line, the 22-year-old was understandably overcome with emotion, tearing up with the devastating realization that she will not be going to her second Olympics. During the replay, NBC showed Mu’s family reacting to the fall.

This was almost a case of déjà vu for the two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2022 world champion. At last year’s World Championships in Hungary, Mu narrowly averted disaster in the semifinals when she was clipped from behind and was taken off her stride. She maintained her balance and made the final, but only came away with a bronze medal as the gold medal favorite. On this occasion, the trip turned into a fall that was too much to overcome.

The American trials were Mu’s first races of the year, having not competed since last September due to injury. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Mu talked about the pressures of being a professional athlete and how it impacted her mentally.

“The first two years [after turning professional], I don’t think I was focused on winning so much. It was all just a new experience for me. And fortunately, I had not had a really hard moment. But of course as you grow up, that’s what happens. And I just did not know how it would affect me. Just … growing up. Living through things that I did not expect to live through.”

Mu also admitted she took a mental health break after her World Championships defeat, adding that she did not “want to feel like last year” heading into this year’s Olympic Games preparations.

While Mu will unfortunately not be able to defend her Olympic crown, the three women who did punch their tickets to Paris were Nia Akins, who similarly fell at the last US Olympics trials, as well as Allie Wilson and current Stanford collegian Juliette Whittaker. All of them will be first-time Olympians.

There have already been several surprises at the USA track and field trials, including 2019 world champion Christian Coleman missing the men’s 100 meters team after finishing 4th, as well as 2022 women’s hammer throw world champion Brooke Andersen and 2023 women’s discus world champion Laulauga Tausaga-Collins failing to qualify in their respective field events. Mu’s absence is by far the biggest shock and the most heartbreaking of this agonizingly unforgiving competition.