Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell ran the second-fastest 100m hurdles time in history to open the Grand Slam Track Miami meet on Friday.
Russell won in 12.17 seconds, five hundredths shy of Nigerian Tobi Amusan’s world record set at the 2022 World Championships.
Russell was followed by fellow American Tia Jones, who ran the third-fastest time in history of 12.19 in a race with the maximum allowable tailwind for record purposes: 2.0 meters per second. Both went under the American record of 12.20 set by Keni Harrison in 2016.
“I didn’t expect that, but I just went out there and competed,” Russell said. “It shows when you turn your brain off and compete, you don’t know what you’re capable of.”
GRAND SLAM TRACK: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
Russell, 24, went from a semifinal elimination at the 2023 World Championships in her global championship debut (hitting a hurdle) to winning Olympic gold in 2024.
Her personal best before this was 12.25 from the Olympic Trials, which made her the second-fastest American in history behind Harrison at the time.
“I continue to say I’m one of the best hurdlers ever,” Russell said. “I’m going to always stand by that.”
Jones, also 24, is the 2018 World U20 champion in the 100m hurdles. She turned pro out of high school in 2019. She ruptured an Achilles in 2020, then missed the Tokyo Olympic Trials with a hamstring strain.
In February 2024, Jones tied the indoor 60m hurdles world record. The record was later rebroken by Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas. Jones then underwent surgery for an ACL tear that March 1.
Four months later, she was fourth in her first-round heat at the Olympic Trials before scratching out of the semifinals.
“To be able to go 12.1 after that, I am blessed,” said Jones, who improved on her personal best of 12.38 from 2022.
Later Friday in the 1500m, Brit Josh Kerr outkicked Americans Yared Nuguse and Cole Hocker in a closing sprint among all three Olympic medalists. Kerr, the Olympic silver medalist, prevailed in 3:34.51 ahead of bronze medalist Nuguse (3:34.65) and gold medalist Hocker (3:34.79).
Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won the 100m in 10.75 seconds, which would have made her the sixth-fastest American in history if the tailwind had not been over the legal limit (2.4 m/s).
Grand Slam Track Miami continues Saturday, live on Peacock at 5 p.m. ET.
Notable Saturday races include Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas in their Olympic gold medal events, the 400m hurdles and 200m, respectively.
Grand Slam Track is a new series of meets for sprinters, hurdlers and distance runners. Each athlete races in two different events over a Friday-through-Sunday meet.
There are four Grand Slam meets — after Kingston, Jamaica, last month, Miami is followed by Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29), all live on Peacock.
Athletes are divided into six event groups for each Slam: short sprints (racing the 100m and 200m), short hurdles (100mH and 100m or 110mH and 100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400mH/400m), short distance (800m/1500m) and long distance (3000m/5000m).
There are 24 men’s “Racers” and 24 women’s “Racers” who signed up for all four Grand Slams — four for each event group. For each individual Slam, men’s and women’s “Challengers” fill out the rest of the fields for every eight-athlete event group.
Athletes earn points based on results, which determine champions for each event group for every Slam. Points are distributed from first through eighth place in each race as follows: 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
The winner of each Slam event group earns $100,000 in prize money. Eighth place gets $10,000.
One overall men’s season champion and one overall women’s season champion will be crowned at the end of the season.
