Athing Mu and Keely Hodgkinson usher in new era of middle-distance running

Just as middle-distance running was threatening to get stale, a revival had been watchfully bubbling away since Rio 2016. However, on Tuesday evening in Tokyo, a new era entirely announced itself as two 19-year-olds burned the rest of their 800m field to steam away with Olympic gold and silver.

Athing Mu only turned 19 in June. Last year, she was still attending high school in Trenton, New Jersey. And now, with the most commanding of 800m runs, she is an Olympic gold medallist. Keely Hodgkinson completed the teenage one-two, nabbing Great Britain’s first athletics medal with a bold dart across the last 100m.

It meant as much of the daylight between her and Mu was also between her and third place, which was eventually taken by Raevyn Rogers, also of the United States. The distance between them will only go shorter and increase for the rest.