Athing Mu destroys World U20 Indoor record with 1:58.40

Saturday, 27 February 2021

18-year-old Athing Mu, a freshman from Texas A&M, smashed the official World U20 indoor record by more than two seconds with an incredible 1:58.40 at the 2021 SEC championships on Saturday, February 27 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Earlier this year in Vienna 19-year-old Keely Hodgkinson clocked an unratified World U20 record of 1:59.07.

Watch the full race video here.

Mu became the first US collegiate woman to run the 800m indoors faster than 2 minutes. Her time was only 0.11 short of the American and North American indoor record and puts her 20th on the senior world indoor all-time list. Her personal best time prior to Saturday night was 2:01.07 from mid-January.

Women's 800m final results SEC indoor championships 2021

1	Athing MU Texas A&M [FR]	1:58.40 PB CL MR FR CR	28.65 [28.65]	57.96 [29.32]	1:27.60 [29.64]	1:58.40 [30.81]
2	Gabrielle WILKINSON Florida [SO]	2:02.85 PB	29.06 [29.06]	59.46 [30.41]	1:31.17 [31.71]	2:02.85 [31.69]
3	Shafiqua MALONEY Arkansas [SR]	2:03.12 PB	28.89 [28.89]	59.17 [30.28]	1:31.41 [32.25]	2:03.12 [31.71]
4	Sintayehu VISSA Ole Miss [SO]	2:06.97	30.39 [30.39]	1:01.80 [31.41]	1:34.42 [32.63]	2:06.97 [32.55]
5	Jenna SCHWINGHAMER Kentucky [FR]	2:07.55 PB	30.35 [30.35]	1:01.63 [31.29]	1:34.99 [33.36]	2:07.55 [32.56]
6	Abbie HARRELSON Florida [SR]	2:07.79 PB	30.59 [30.59]	1:01.92 [31.34]	1:34.60 [32.68]	2:07.79 [33.19]
7	Quinn OWEN Arkansas [JR]	2:09.26	29.74 [29.74]	1:01.21 [31.47]	1:34.87 [33.67]	2:09.26 [34.40]
8	Anna Marian BLOCK Georgia [JR]	2:10.39	30.15 [30.15]	1:01.65 [31.51]	1:36.10 [34.45]	2:10.39 [34.30]

‼️ 1:58.40 ‼️ Athing Mu just DESTROYED the collegiate indoor record and U20 world indoor record!pic.twitter.com/h9z0kvCfyF
— Travis Miller (@TravisMillerFlo) February 28, 2021