Masai Russell breaks her own American record in the 100m hurdles

Masai Russell has broken her own American Record — and she was just two hundredths of a second away from setting a new World Record.

Russell, who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.33 seconds, continued her streak of domination on Saturday. Running in the 2026 Xiamen Diamond League, the former Kentucky Wildcat came in first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.14 seconds, breaking her previous American Record of 12.17 seconds, which she set last May.

“I’m ecstatic and all the hard work is truly showing,” Russell said after her race. “I’ve been saying all year that I’m going to break the world record. I don’t know when it’s going to come, but I keep getting closer and closer.

“It’s still early for me. Once we get into championship season, we’ll see some even crazier times, which is crazy to say.”

Her time marked the second-fastest time in athletics history, coming up just 0.02 seconds shy of tying the World Record of 12.12 seconds, which was set by Tobi Amusan in 2022. Russell actually beat out Amusan, who finished in second place (12.28 seconds), on Saturday. Coming in third was another familiar face, Devynne Charlton at 12.37 seconds, who was once a volunteer assistant coach at Kentucky.

It’s only a matter of time before Russell beats Amusan’s all-time mark.

Watch Masai Russell 🇺🇸 run an American Record of 12.14s (0.5) over 100mH at the Xiamen Diamond League!

Just misses the World Record by 0.02s.

2. Tobi Amusan 🇳🇬 12.28
3. Devynne Charlton 🇧🇸 12.37 (NR)pic.twitter.com/XO258nyKSj

— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) May 23, 2026

A 25-year-old native of Washington, D.C., Russell was a star at Kentucky under head coach Lonnie Greene. She is the NCAA Record holder in the 100-meter hurdles, posting a time of 12.36 seconds in April 2023 at the Texas Relays. After graduating from UK that same year, she soon turned into an international star. Russell was one of multiple Kentucky alums who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in track and field. She took home gold in the 100m hurdles in her Olympic debut, beating out the silver medalist by 0.01 seconds.

With Saturday’s performance, Russell once again proved she’s one of the best — if not the best — sprint hurdlers in the entire world.