Masai Russell told the world that her world record should have come as no surprise. One entity that was ready was her apparel sponsor.
Nike dropped a video minutes after Russell ran 12.09 seconds on Thursday. It featured Questlove and Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce honoring the 2024 Olympic gold medalist and now new world record holder.
Russell, a 26-year-old from Washington, D.C., broke the record of 12.12 set by Nigerian Tobi Amusan at the 2022 World Championship.
She did so with no tailwind, making it all the more impressive.
“When I came through the line, I had to post up a little bit like, come on now, did we not expect this?” Russell told Flotrack. “And then, once I saw the time, and it settled in, I was like, what the hell, I really did it.”
Russell had been knocking on the door the last two seasons, running 12.14, 12.17, 12.19, 12.20, 12.22 and 12.24.
“I see what people say online,” she said. “People were like, ‘Masai’s PB by the end of her career’s going to be 12.14.’ I bookmarked that. I can’t wait to quote-tweet that because I’m just like, y’all really doubted me? Every time y’all doubt me I just show y’all that I’m not like anybody else.”
Now she’s the second American to hold the 100m hurdles world record after Keni Harrison.
Russell is already looking ahead to her next tasks — eyeing her first Diamond League Final title in Brussels (Sept. 4-5) and the first World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest (Sept. 11-13).
“If we get a 1.9 (meter/second) wind behind my back, that could have been a sub-12 race,” Russell said. “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?”
