Masai Russell won her first Diamond League Final title in the 100m hurdles — nine days after breaking the world record in the event — as four Americans won trophies in Brussels on Saturday.
Russell prevailed in 12.20 seconds in her first race since clocking a world record 12.09 in Zurich on Aug. 27.
Russell is the third U.S. woman to own an Olympic gold medal, a Diamond League season title (since the circuit began in 2010) and a world record in one event after Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles.
Russell raced seven Diamond League meets in 2026 and broke the meet record in all of them. She is on a 12-meet win streak since placing fourth at the 2025 World Championships, the longest at the top level since Australian Sally Pearson won 13 in a row in 2010 and 2011, according to Tilastopaja.org.
Next up: the first World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest next weekend, the biggest meet of 2026. Competition airs live on NBC Sports and Peacock.
Also Saturday, Kenny Bednarek earned his third Diamond League 200m season title by clocking 19.62 seconds, matching the world’s best time of 2026 that he set in Zurich last week.
Bednarek, a two-time Olympic 200m silver medalist, won all four of his 200m races this year. His only defeats in 2025 were runners-up to Noah Lyles at the U.S. and World Championships.
On Saturday, Bednarek distanced Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (fourth in 20.01). Bednarek has now bettered Tebogo in their last four head-to-heads at 200m. They’ll go head-to-head again at the World Ultimate Championship, which Lyles will miss due to injury.
In field events, Americans Hana Moll (pole vault) and Monae’ Nichols (long jump) notched the biggest wins of their careers.
Moll, a University of Washington senior, cleared a personal best 4.91 meters to become the second American woman to capture a Diamond League season title in the event after Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Katie Moon. Moon placed fourth on Saturday.
Moll and twin sister Amanda now share not only a birthdate, but also a personal best in the event. They’re joint fourth on the U.S. all-time list behind 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jenn Suhr (5.03), 2016 Olympic silver medalist Sandi Morris (5.00) and Moon (4.95).
Nichols, sixth at the 2024 Olympics, leaped 6.91 meters to beat Italian Larissa Iapichino by five centimeters. Absent was Olympic and world champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, who was concussed in a car accident last week. Davis-Woodhall owns the world’s best jump this year of 7.20 meters.
Jamaican Tina Clayton took the women’s 100m in 10.93 seconds with an incredible start. Olympic 100m silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson was third in 11.07, one hundredth behind Brit Amy Hunt.
Neither 2024 Olympic gold medalist Julien Alfred nor 2025 World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who shares a Central Florida training group with Richardson, was in Saturday’s field.
Alfred and Jefferson-Wooden are expected the World Ultimate Championship, along with Clayton and Richardson.
