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 The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in the 100 m hurdles event. Russell is the U.S. NCAA Record holder in the 100 m hurdles. Russell holds personal bests of 12.17 seconds over 100 m hurdles which is second-fastest of all time and the American Record, 7.74 seconds over

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.65 seconds (Devynne Ch ...

, which is tied for thirteenth-fastest of all time and 54.66 seconds over

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

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. At the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, Russell placed third in the 100 m hurdles and fourth in the 400 m hurdles. In 2023, Russell broke the collegiate record for the 60 m hurdles, running 7.75s to beat Grace Stark's time of 7.78s set the year before. In April, she ran a collegiate record of 12.36s over 100 m hurdles at the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays is an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the last weekend of March or first weekend of April. E ...

. In June, she placed second in both the 100 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles at the 2023 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. At the 2023 USA Outdoor Championships, Russell finished third qualifying to represent the United States at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. She made the semi-finals, but did finish there after hitting a hurdle. Russell finished fourth in the 60 m hurdles at the 2024 World Indoor Championships. 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

in Paris. At the Olympics, Russell won gold with a time of 12.33s, narrowly beating Cyrena Samba-Mayela. She ended her 2024 season by finishing third at the inaugural Athlos meet. In September 2024, it was announced that she had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson-founded Grand Slam Track. In May 2025, Russell ran the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 12.17 seconds, an American record.

Education

Russell graduated from

Bullis School Bullis School is a private, co-educational college preparatory day school for grades K-12. The school is located in Potomac, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. History Bullis School was founded in Washington D.C. in 1930 by Commander Wil ...

in 2018. She graduated from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

with a degree in Health Science in 2023.

Professional

Circuit performances

International competition

¹ in the semi-finals.

Awards

* Night of Legends Award 2024: Breakthrough Performer Wing Award

References

External links

* * *
Masai Russell profile
at

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Masai 2000 births 20th-century American women 21st-century American sportswomen American female hurdlers American female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Kentucky Wildcats women's track and field athletes Living people Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Potomac, Maryland Track and field athletes from Maryland United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field) University of Kentucky alumni Bullis School alumni Track and field athletes from Washington, D.C.