"I want to protest"- Masai Russell opens up on her agent talking to the meet director after finishing third in 100m hurdles at Athlos

Masai Russell spoke about protesting to the meet director at Athlos NYC after finishing third in the women's 100m hurdles. The American athlete revealed that a lot of flinching at the starting line before the commencement of the race had a profound impact on her, and she believed that the person who ran the race according to the rules deserved the prize money.

Russell made an appearance in the final race of her season at Athlos NYC after a great season that included an Olympic gold medal in the French capital, as well as multiple podium finishes in the Diamond Leagues after the quadrennial Games. She was one of the six women competing at the Athlos NYC in the 100m hurdles.

Masai Russell was assigned lane number 6 beside Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. The American athlete had a slow start and was trailing behind in the major portion of the race before registering a strong finish to place third after clocking 12.44s behind Jasmine Camacho-Quinn who finished first and Alaysha Johnson who took home the silver medal.

Soon after the race, her agent went to speak to the meet director and Russell revealed in a post-race interview that she wanted to protest due to the flinching at the start line, which affected her performance.

"I don't know, my agent went to talk to the meet director. But yeah, I want to protest because as anyone can see, there was a lot of flinching going on at the starting line, so that kind of affected me. I was playing catchup the whole entire race. So you know, it is a big prize money on the line and I think the person who ran the legal race should get the prize money they deserve,” she said. (0:47)

Athlos is yet to release an official statement about the same.

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Masai Russell on Athlos NYC's impact on women's sports

Masai Russell at the Olympic Games-Paris 2024 - Source: Getty

Athlos was started by Alexis Ohanian to bring about a major transformation in women's sports. Masai Russell spoke about the impact created by the event on women's sports in a post-race interview after finishing third in the women's 100m.

" I think it can make me continue to grow and more people try to show up and people who didn't come before when they hear about how good it was and how good it was run, I feel like more people more fans, more stars and celebrities want to come out and support women's sports," she said.

"So, I think it is going to do a great thing for women in our sport and just women in other sports," she added.

Masai Russell concluded her 2024 season after finishing third at Athlos NYC making it one of the most successful seasons of her career so far.