Masai Russell

Masai Russell ( ; born June 17, 2000) is an American track and field sprinter and hurdler. She won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100 m hurdles event. Russell is the world record holder in the 100 m hurdles, running a time of 12.09 seconds on August 27, 2026.

In addition to her world record, Russell holds personal bests of 7.74 seconds over the 60-meter hurdles, which is tied for thirteenth-fastest of all time, and 54.66 seconds over the 400-meter hurdles.

Career In 2021, Russell ran her first sub-13s 100 m hurdles in placing second in her heat at the SEC Championships. She went on to place sixth in the final. Later that year, Russell ran 12.93s to make the final of the NCAA Division I Championships, where she finished sixth. She also placed fourth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 56.18s, a personal best at the time.

At the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, Russell placed third in the 100 m hurdles and fourth in the 400 m hurdles. In April, she ran a collegiate/NCAA record of 12.36s over 100 m hurdles at the Texas Relays. In June, she placed second in both the 100 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles at the 2023 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. After the conclusion of the 2023 NCAA season, Russell turned professional. At the 2023 USA Outdoor Championships, Russell finished third qualifying to represent the United States at the World Championships in Budapest. She made the semi-finals, but did not finish there after hitting a hurdle.

Russell finished fourth in the 60 m hurdles at the 2024 World Indoor Championships. In April 2024, she signed a sponsorship deal with Nike after previously being signed with Gymshark. She placed first at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 m hurdles in a personal best time of 12.25 to qualify her for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. At the Olympics, Russell won gold with a time of 12.33s, narrowly beating Cyréna Samba-Mayela. In September 2024, it was announced that Russell had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson-founded Grand Slam Track. She ended her 2024 season by finishing third at the inaugural Athlos meet.

On May 2, 2025, she ran the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 12.17 seconds, an American record, at the 2025 Miami Grand Slam meet. On July 5, she ran to fourth place at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic. On August 2, she competed in the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and won the gold medal with a time of 12.22 seconds. At the 2025 World Athletics Championships, Russell won both her heat and semi-final race but only finished fourth in the final. She ended the season with winning the 2025 Athlos meet for the 100 m hurdles with a wind-assisted 12.52 seconds.

In May 2026, Russell further improved on her personal best to 12.14 seconds after winning the event at the Xiamen Diamond League. On June 24, 2026, Russell competed in the Los Angeles Grand Prix in the 100 meter hurdles and won with a time of 12.26 seconds. On July 4, she won the same event at the 2026 Prefontaine Classic with a time of 12.24, equaling a meet record.

On August 27, 2026, Russell won the 100 m hurdles in the 2026 Zürich Diamond League with a world record time of 12.09 seconds, one of two world records set at that meet. This broke the previous record time of 12.12s by Tobi Amusan back in 2022. The victory marked her 11th consecutive win in the event. Reflecting on her performance, Russell suggested that a stronger tailwind could have pushed her under the 12-second barrier. "If we get a 1.9 wind behind my back, that could have been a sub-12 race," she noted, adding, "Everything that I’ve said that I wanted to do has come into fruition, so why not say I think I can be the first one to run sub-12?"

Education Russell graduated from Bullis School in 2018. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Health Science in 2023.