BEING A CLOSER in one of track & field’s shortest — and most unforgiving — races is not for the faint of heart. Masai Russell leans into it. Literally.
The 24-year-old won the 100H at the Paris Olympic Games by 0.01 with a superb lean at the finish. Then in her first major meet of ’25, Russell captured what she considers her first pro win at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, winning the 60H by the same margin with a similar surge.
Six days later at the Millrose Games, Russell put an excellent start together with her usual finish to post a world-leading 7.76.
“I can feel it in the race when my speed is just, like, unleashing,” the Washington, D.C., native says. “It’s allowing my body to run fast the way that it wants to run. The further I get down the track, the more I’m able to open up. It’s just like, ‘Alright. This is where it happens.’ And then I just start passing people.”
However, at Russell’s first World Championships in Budapest in ’23, there was no chance to unleash. After hitting the second hurdle in the 100H semifinals, she couldn’t regain her momentum. Midway down the track, Russell toppled a hurdle and stopped.
“It’s a part of the game. Things happen, upsets happen, failure happens,” Russell said afterwards in a YouTube video message to her fans. “It’s always a lesson that I can learn from.”
Russell, who set Collegiate Records in ’23 in the 60H (7.75) and 100H (12.36) — also vowed that the next season would be “one for the books.”
“If you’re not following this journey now, I cannot be more serious to y’all,” she said. “I am very goofy and I play a lot, but this season that’s coming up is going to be one to watch. Everything mentally, physically, nutritionally, spiritually is going to be different.”
Alas, ‘24 didn’t start off that well, but remember, Russell is a closer.
“It was just a lot of overthinking, a lot of doubt,” she says. “I was unsponsored. I was thinking of all the other things that weren’t that important, and that’s what kind of affected my mind when it came to competing and it came to running fast… It started to be like a downhill spiral.”
Russell said she was overthinking her start as well as overthinking what people thought of her because she didn’t have a sponsor. She had an offer, but wasn’t comfortable with it.
“It was just a test to get to the testimony, that’s what I like to say,” Russell said. “It’s what I had to go through to get to where I’m at now.”
She locked in and began believing in herself. After Russell placed 4th at the World Indoor in Glasgow last year, Nike was a believer, too. She signed with the shoe company the following month.
“I missed out on a medal, but I guess that was what they wanted to see,” Russell says. “And I just brought that momentum into outdoors.”
At Kentucky, Russell had been NCAA runner-up in the 60H, 100H and 400H, but the national title had eluded her. Last summer, she finally broke through at the Olympic Trials and ascended to the top of the podium in her first Olympic Games.
“I know I’m capable of crazy things,” Russell says. “My goal is just to be the best hurdler ever, and with that comes things that people have never seen before.”
Of course, that would mean eclipsing Tobi Amusan’s WR of 12.12 set at the ’22 Worlds in Eugene.
“I haven’t gotten in the 12.1s or 12.0s yet,” says Russell, whose PR is 12.25 from the ’24 Trials, “but I just know that with time and experience and strength and just trusting myself and believing in myself, I just believe that great things are possible.”
She continues to work with longtime coach Lonnie Greene in Lexington, Kentucky, where she recently bought a house.
“I’ve gotten better literally every single year, so it just made sense to stay,” said Russell, who emerged from a post-Olympic slump to tackle ’25 with a fresh perspective.
One of her training partners is Devynne Charlton, the 60H World Record holder and reigning World Indoor champion.
“Her start is phenomenal, so that’s what I’ve been working on,” Russell says.
She doesn’t need to hone her finish. “Do I practice my lean? No, it’s just like a part of my genes or something,” Russell says. “When it’s a close race, the only thing I know is to just do it.”
That confidence doesn’t carry over to basketball, but Russell couldn’t resist an invitation to appear in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on February 14. Barry Bonds is the head coach for her team.
“The only thing I’m good at is probably track and jumping over hurdles, and flipping a little bit,” Russell says.
She expects Olympic silver medalist high jumper Shelby McEwen, who will play for the opposing team, to get a couple of dunks and maybe contend for MVP.
“But don’t look for me to do anything,” Russell says. “I’m going to be out there looking cute, taking pictures, like I always do. Don’t look for nothing on the court. Hopefully, I get a point. That’s all I want to do.”
Next stop on the track circuit is the USATF Indoor Championships, February 22-23, although Russell will not go to Nanjing, China, for the indoor Worlds if she qualifies.
She wants to use the time to prepare for the Texas Relays and then the first stop on the Grand Slam Track Tour in Jamaica in early April.
Russell is one of the core four in the 100/100H Grand Slam group, along with the other two women on the Olympic podium: Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. Ackera Nugent is the fourth, and then there will be guest athletes at the four stops.
“It’ll be fun for me to get my feet wet in the 100,” Russell says, “I’ve run 12.20 in the 100H so I know I have the footspeed. I know I have what it takes to be a really good 100 runner. So the fact that it’s just a ground-breaking opportunity for us in the sport, I was just happy that I could be one of the first to be a part of it and to make history.”
Despite her success in the 400H, Russell doesn’t see herself ever going back to the longer event. “I don’t think I want to be great in the 400 hurdles like I want to be great in the 100H,” Russell says. “I think that if that was the event that would have chosen me, then it would have happened. The 100 hurdles was the one that stuck out more than the 400H. So, I’m glad because the 100H doesn’t hurt your butt like the 400H does.”
Russell also doesn’t believe she could be as competitive on the professional side of the event with the likes of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. However, the 100H is traditionally one of the most loaded events in the U.S. and worldwide.
“I picked my poison and I just chose the 100H,” Russell says.
NBC commentator and Olympic medalist Ato Boldon proclaimed the 100H his favorite event to cover.
“Nobody gets to sit on the throne for more than a year,” he said.
Russell wants to prove him wrong. “You never know what you’re going to get, but my goal is to keep people at my back and just to continue to win,” she says. “A lot of people said that they didn’t think I could win the Olympics, so I’m going to show them that I want to win the World Championships and hold that throne again for another year.”
The Olympic champ definitely enjoyed the perks that come from being Queen of the 100H. Russell had great seats for NFL and NBA games, where she was introduced and her Paris victory played on the big screen.
“People were showing me love, screaming my name,” she says. “They were able to relive that moment, and I was able to relive it, too.”
Is there anything better than that in the world of sports? Nothing comes close.
