American Hurdler Masai Russell has revealed the achievement she values most in her career despite adding a world record to her growing list of accomplishments.
Russell stunned the athletics world last week when she clocked 12.09 seconds in the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich, taking three hundredths of a second off Nigerian Tobi Amusan’s previous world record of 12.12.
The performance established Russell as the fastest woman ever over the hurdles, but the Olympic champion insists the record does not surpass the significance of what she achieved in Paris.
Russell won Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles at the Paris Games, securing the biggest title of her career before going on to break the world record.
Asked about the significance of her latest achievement compared with her Olympic triumph, Russell made her position clear.
“The Olympic gold trumps everything just because no one can ever take my gold medal from me,” she said. “With a record … records are meant to be broken.”
While world records can be rewritten and eventually surpassed by another athlete, Russell believes an Olympic gold medal remains a permanent part of her legacy.
That perspective has not, however, reduced her ambition. Russell says she is still capable of improving after her record-breaking performance and believes there is more speed to come.
“I’m not putting a limit on anything,” she said. “I think that there’s still so much room for me to get stronger.”
Russell will return to competition at this weekend’s Diamond League Final in Brussels before travelling to Budapest for next week’s inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships.
The American also credited her coach, Lonnie Greene, for believing in her potential long before she reached the top of the sport. According to Russell, Greene had been predicting a world record for years and consistently urged her to focus on winning rather than chasing a specific time.
Now, having achieved both Olympic glory and a world record, Russell is continuing to push herself. Her 12.09 seconds has also raised the possibility of the 12-second barrier being broken, but the American remains focused on improving rather than putting a ceiling on what she can achieve.
