"Greatest rookie season" - Noah Lyles hypes up Masai Russell as Olympic gold medalist secures third place finish at Zurich Diamond League

Noah Lyles recently responded to Masai Russell’s statement following her third-place finish in the women’s 100m hurdles at the 2024 Zurich Diamond League. Russell came third at the penultimate Diamond League meet of the season, clocking a time of 12.47s, behind Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (12.36s) and Cyréna Samba-Mayela (12.40s).

This was Russell’s third competition following the 2024 Paris Olympics where she achieved the gold medal after registering a time of 12.33s in the 100m hurdles. However, after her phenomenal show in Paris, she came fourth in the Silesia Diamond League (12.40s) and second in the Rome Diamond League (12.31s) before placing third in Zurich.

Following her performance in Zurich, Masai Russell humorously said on her X handle that people seem to forget she is still new to the field and it would take time for her to learn. She said:

“I think people forget I’m still a rookie 😂”

The Paris Olympics 100m and six-time world champion Noah Lyles responded to the post by hyping up Russell, stating:

“GREATEST ROOKIE SEASON!”

Besides being an Olympic gold medalist, she finished fourth at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, recording a time of 7.81s in the 60m hurdles. Notably, Russell, who turned professional after her NCAA season in 2023, signed with Nike in April 2024.

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Masai Rusell speaks on her transition to 100m hurdles on Noah Lyles’ Sprint Talk

Masai Russell at the Paris Olympics 2024 (Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images)

In a conversation with Noah Lyles on the Sprint Talk podcast, Masai Russell opened up on how 400m hurdles was her first love and the event that fueled her love for hurdling. She stated (14:05 onwards):

“I was just a runner for like seven years before I did any type of hurdling. Of course, the 400m hurdles was like oh this is cool. This is like a new event this is fun. That's what got me recruited.”

Russell added that she began participating in the short hurdling events as the 400m hurdles weren’t a part of indoor season, adding:

“When I ran the short hurdles like my senior year, the 100m hurdles, I ran like 13.8s but I only ran the 100 hurdles four times before going to college. So, initially, like I said I came into the college as a 400m hurdler and then, of course, there is no 400m hurdles indoors, so I had to practice for the short hurdles.”

“There was no like one [400m hurdles or 100m hurdles] that stuck out more than the other until last year. I wanted the 100m hurdles to take over because I feel like as a pro just training for the 400m hurdles like I just don't think I'm built for that," she also mentioned in the podcast.

Besides Russell, Chase Ealey, Rai Benjamin, Trey Cunningham, Jereem Richards, and Joseph Fahnbulleh, are some of the top names who have been a part of 'Sprint Talk' hosted by Noah Lyles.