Russell's Olympic title win launches legacy in the making

It’s hardly surprising that Masai Russell is a fighter.

The US hurdler went to high school in Potomac, the Maryland town that was once home to Sylvester Stallone, star of the Rocky movies, and Mike Tyson, a real-life heavyweight boxing champion.

“Home is Upper Marlboro, Maryland, but I commuted to Bullis School in Potomac every day for four years,” says Russell, who showed her own fighting qualities in the scrap for the Olympic 100m hurdles title in Paris.

The 24-year-old slugged her way into contention off the final barrier in the Stade de France in August, delivering the knockout blow to the big home hope with her lunge for the line.

Russell prevailed in 12.33 - 0.01 ahead of the French athlete Cyrena Samba-Mayela, with defending champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico third in 12.36.

It was not the only gold medal success for Bullis in the French capital. Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old prodigy in the victorious US men’s 4x400m squad, happens to be a current student at the independent high school in Potomac.

For Russell, her narrow triumph in the 100m hurdles final was a fifth and final victory of a marathon outdoor season that stretched to 22 races, including heats, semifinals and finals. Her other four wins came in her Olympic heat and in the three rounds she negotiated at the US trials in Eugene in June.

That she emerged victorious from the two meetings out of 15 that mattered the most tells you a lot about the battling spirit of the Marylander who started her track career as a 400m hurdler, clocking 57.55 for bronze at the Pan American U20 Championships back in 2017.

Russell won as many races – five out of 11 – during an indoor season which culminated in the disappointment of missing out on a spot on the world indoor 60m hurdles podium by one place and 0.02.

Having started 2024 with four goals written down – world indoor record, world indoor title, Olympic title and world outdoor record – she saw the first two claimed by her training partner, the Bahamian Devynne Charlton taking gold in Glasgow in 7.65 ahead of Samba-Mayela (7.74) and Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska (7.79).

“It was pretty devastating,” reflects Russell, who crossed the line fourth in 7.81.

“I missed out on a medal by just being leaned out but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake in the outdoor season.

“It’s been amazing to see the transition from indoors to out.”

That transition took place at the elite hurdles factory of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, also the alma mater of fellow global gold medal winners Camacho-Quinn, Kendra Harrison and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, as well as Daniel Roberts, runner-up to Grant Holloway in the men’s 110m hurdles in Paris.

Russell and Charlton are guided by Rolando “Lonnie” Greene, the Bahamian head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.

“He’s been my coach from the jump, since coming into Kentucky as an 18-year-old,” says Russell.

“He’s such a relentless coach. I’ve progressed every single year underneath him, on his programme.”

Russell first broke 13 seconds with 12.90 in 2021 and has since improved to 12.71 in 2022, 12.36 in 2023 and now 12.25 in 2024.

That 12.25 came in the final at the US Olympic trials. It puts Russell joint fifth on the world all-time list.

“It’s just super-promising that I’ve got better every single year under Coach Greene,” she continues.

“It makes me so happy to know what my future has to hold – being as young as I am, not being as strong as I could possibly be. I know my ceiling’s super-high with a coach like that.”

In international terms, Russell is still a relative novice in the high hurdles. The 400m hurdles was still her main event two years ago.

She finished sixth in the 400m hurdles final at the 2022 US Championships, clocking 55.66, and fourth in a semifinal of the 100m hurdles in 12.76.

It was not until last year that Coach Greene had Russell concentrating on the high hurdles. She finished third at the US Championships and made the semifinals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, crashing out after hitting hurdles two and three.

On reflection, she considers her success in this year’s Olympic trials as her break-out achievement.

Russell scorched home at Hayward Field in 12.25, ahead of Alaysha Johnson (12.31), Grace Stark (12.31), Nia Ali (12.37), Tonea Marshall (12.38) and Harrison (12.39).

“I was way more stressed making the team in the trials than actually being on the line in the Olympic final,” she says.

“There’s no Olympics if you don’t get through the US trials. And the US trials is like the Olympics within itself.

“That was the fastest-run women’s 100 hurdles. And the women’s 100m hurdles is the most competitive event in track and field.

“We’re all so close and so talented. Whoever has the cleanest race on the day, they’re probably going to win.

“I think 12 women have run 12.30s this year. I don’t think that’s ever been done in history… It’s pretty sick.”

Indeed, 12 women have run under 12.40 in 2024, six of them in that stunning US final - and that adds up to a historical high by some margin.

In 2023 the total was seven. In 2022 it was six. Prior to that no more than two women had broken 12.40 in any year.

In addition to the intense competition, Russell also has to contend with the tide of history as she looks towards 2025, with the lure of world titles indoors and out, and towards a home Olympics in 2028.

In the cut and thrust of the women’s high hurdles, she has become the 14th different consecutive global champion.

Yet Russell maintains she still has her sights on the targets she set at the start of 2024.

“My goal is to be the world indoor record-holder, the world indoor champ, world outdoor record-holder, world outdoor champ - and Olympic champ again,” she insists.

“If I’m not shooting to be the best ever in the sport, then what am I doing?

“I’m trying to build a legacy for those who look up to me: the little girls who don’t believe they’re big enough or strong enough to do it.

“I know that they can. I want to be that person for them.”

Simon Turnbull for World Athletics