Watch a 16-year-old smash American women’s 600m record to win USA champs

Athing Mu is a name you'll want to remember

Madeleine Kelly February 25, 2019

If you don’t know the name Athing Mu, learn it. The 16-year-old won the 600m at the USATF Indoor Championships on Sunday afternoon, setting a new American record of 1:23.57 and beating some of the best 800m runners in the country.

Watch Athing Mu run 1:23.57 for the second-fastest indoor 600m in World History! pic.twitter.com/4mpK7qV0MV

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 24, 2019

Mu took charge from the beginning of the race and came through 400m in a blazing 54 seconds. The high school student didn’t panic when Oregon alumna, Raevyn Rogers came up on her shoulder with 150 metres to go. Mu calmly held her off, and maintained her pace into the final 50. Rogers was second at the 2018 indoor and outdoor national 800m finals and runs for Nike.

She told Let’s Run that her goal coming into the race was to break the national record of 1:27. The national record she was referring to was the high school national record, which she broke handily in the heats. She didn’t seem to expect the American senior national record, which fell the following day in the final. Her time on Sunday was also the second fastest indoor 600m in world history.

This weekend was nothing but SPECIAL. Definitely one to remember forever! Words literally cannot explain how astonished I am with my performance. I’ve now done things I never would have imagined to come so soon in my career. I became the HS National Record Holder, the U18 & U20.. pic.twitter.com/epYGb7k7Zs

— Athing Mu (@athiiing) February 25, 2019

The high school student plants to race the New Balance Indoor Nationals in March at the Armory in New York City.

The meet also saw a new world record in the men’s event as Donovan Brazier ran a blazing 1:13.77. The Nike Oregon Project athlete broke Michael Saruni’s year-old mark of 1:14.79 and in the process won his third national title.