"I'm Olympic champion but never won a race as pro last year": Masai Russell vows to preserve flowers of first professional win at NB Indoor Grand Prix

Masai Russell put on a clinical performance to win the 60m hurdles at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. It marked the Olympic champion's first professional career win after signing with Nike last year.

Russel kicked off her 2025 season at the Texas Tech Corky Classic on January 17, and registered victories in the 60m and the 60m hurdles. The American hurdler continued her winning start at the New Balance Grand Prix on Sunday and clocked 7.80s to win her first professional race.

The 24-year-old was overjoyed following the win and said she would preserve the flowers of her maiden professional career victory.

"I felt good, I mean it's funny to say this is my first pro win. I'm an Olympic champion but I never won a race as a professional last year. So this is my first one and I'm gonna keep these flowers. It's just been great," Masai Russell told Citius Mag in a post-race interview [0:15 onwards]

While Russell raced at the 2024 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix as well, she hadn't signed a professional contract and would later ink a lucrative deal with Nike in April. However, barring her victories at the US Olympic Trials and the Paris Olympics, she didn't manage to win a single race after signing the contract.

The 24-year-old will now be in action at the Milrose Games on February, 8 and will race at The Armory for the first time in her professional career.

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"It kind of threw me off a little bit" - Masai Russell on being without a sponsor at the start of the 2024 season

Masai Russell at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Masai Russell was one of the fastest short-sprint hurdlers to come out of the collegiate circuit in 2023. She held the NCAA records in the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles, and to add weight to her achievements was that she proved herself in that year's US Championships as well, finishing third to qualify for the World Championships.

However, despite her impressive resume, Russell couldn't find a sponsor and was left dejected when she started the 2024 season with a professional contract.

“I ended up coming into the season without a sponsor, and I mean I felt like I did enough to get that," Russell revealed on the 'Ready Set Go' podcast. "And when it didn’t happen the way I expected it to go, you know, it kind of threw me off a little bit. So, coming into the season, not feeling like I had that support, it was a little harder to go to practice.”

The 24-year-old was eventually boarded by Nike and would turn around her fortunes in the coming months. After winning the Olympic trials in the fifth fastest time of 12.35s, she rose to the occasion at the Paris Olympics and won the 100m hurdles title in 12.33s.