Jenny Simpson: the Nicki Minaj of Women’s Distance Running

If in another space-time continuum, Jenny Simpson were to be plucked out of distance running and dropped haphazardly into the rap world, she would thrive. She’d be the type of rap queen that would never shy away from a beef. The type who might even search one out. Picture Nicki Minaj. Both Nicki and Jenny know how to subtly, or even better–not so subtly–assert themselves. Their egos are swoll with confidence. Which in racing, and rapping, really isn’t a bad thing.

Jenny is a bronze medalist. Nicki was the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. They’re great at what they do. Their accolades could speak for themselves.

Luckily for us, the beef-loving spectators, those accolades often don’t have to, because both women are more than happy to call someone out and/or respond in kind to being called out.

Nicki has feuded with the likes of T-Swift, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Lil’ Kim, and the woman who’s perhaps felt the wrath of Minaj the most–Remy Ma

An Instagram posted just yesterday shows that Simpson is an equal-opportunity beefer and has a message for Laura Muir, a Great Britain Nike-sponsored athlete:

View this post on Instagram

When I've got my mind made up.

A post shared by Jenny Simpson (@trackjenny) on Mar 14, 2017 at 1:30pm PDT

There’s Simpson beating Laura Muir at the 5th Ave Mile this past September, after also beating her out to medal at the Olympics in Rio.

[If you don’t know the back story: In between the two races, Muir won the 1500 meter Diamond League meet in Paris with a British-record time of 3:55. Simpson finished 6th with 3:58 that day but then came back to beat Muir at the 5th Ave Mile in New York – by one tenth of a second. With a 4:18.3 to Muir’s 4:18.4, Simpson won her fifth title there in six years, with the fastest winning time since Patti Sue Pulmer’s event record 4:16.68 in 1990.

Simpson had gone on record prior to the race as saying, “I really, really want to win.” She and Muir were neck and neck for most of the race. They pulled away from the rest of the field around 1200m, and Simpson edged Muir out in the final 100 meters.]

The caption obviously speaks for itself, but please also note Simpson’s curation of a photo where she’s surging, floating victoriously forward, flying toward the finish with both feet off the ground almost supernaturally. Her lean arms power onward, her braid swishes lightly. She’s perfectly composed, graceful and triumphant, and, in contrast, Muir has just barely missed being caught on a dreaded downstep in the photo. Boom. The poor Brit looks almost like she’s standing still.

The comment and picture pair nicely, similar to oh.I.don’t.know, maybe something along the lines of red wine and a nice slab of salty beef. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯