"I crashed into the hurdle"- Masai Russell opens up on overcoming challenges in 'tough' year & clinching the Olympic gold medal as she wins major award

Masai Russell won the Breakthrough Performer Wing Award presented by the Greater Orlando Sports Commission on Saturday, December 7. The Olympic champion reflected on her season and spoke about the struggles she overcame before the Paris Olympics.

Russell grabbed the spotlight with her impressive performance at the 2024 Summer Games, where she clinched gold in the 100m hurdles dash. However, it was a turn of unfortunate events during the World Championships that motivated the American athlete to win her Olympic gold.

In the 2023 World Championships, Russell kicked off the 100m hurdles events on a promising note but crashed into the second hurdle, subsequently affecting her run and being disqualified from the finals.

Reflecting on these hardships, Masai Russell spoke about her journey in her speech while receiving the award from the Orlando Sports Commission.

"This year was super, super hard for me. If you guys heard me speak, do interviews or anything like that. Like this year was very, very tough for me. I failed to make the final in Budapest. I crashed into the hurdle, which, ultimately made me not qualify for the final," Masai Russell said.

Discussing how she entered this season with a different mindset, the 24-year-old added:

"So, you know, I came in to this year with a different mindset, and I told myself it was going to be different. And I told myself also, I was not going to wait another four years and regret not doing what I needed to do on that day of the Olympic final and not get the job done. So I got out there. I did my thing. It's still so crazy just saying that I'm an Olympic champion. It's such a blessing, still such an honor. And it just made me even more hungry. I'm excited. I'm excited for the future. Like I said, I'm not even in my prime yet, so it's really just the beginning."

Russell won her maiden Olympic 100m hurdles gold medal on August 10 after clocking an impressive 12.33s, besting Cyrena Samba-Mayela by just 0.01s. Following this, Russell participated in the 100m hurdles event at the Athlos NYC, where she attained the third position with a time of 12.44s.

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Masai Russell opened up about her mindset for the early events in the 2025 season

Masai Russell is all set to start her 2025 season by competing in the Millrose Games in the 60m hurdles dash. The event is scheduled to be held on February 8 in New York next year.

In a recent appearance in the Citius Mag podcast, Russell detailed her mindset for the upcoming season and revealed that she will work on honing her skills in the earlier stage of the year to be completely prepared for the major events that will take place as the season progresses.

"I think I am a very secure person in my abilities. So although it may not look flawless in April, like best believe when we get to USA, it's going to be perfected. So, I'm okay with taking the hits and maybe not winning earlier in the season to work on those smaller things to make sure that they are fixed going into the Championship cycle," Masai Russell said.

The Millrose Games 2025 will be Russell's first event after competing at the Athlos NYC in September 2024.