Masai Russell gives her honest take on competing in 60m and 100m hurdles as she elaborates on major differences between the two events

Masai Russell shared her take on competing in the 60m and 100m hurdles disciplines. She ran her first hurdles race of the 2025 season at the Texas Tech Corky Classic, clocking 7.89s in the 60m hurdles.

Russell will next feature at the Millrose Games, scheduled on February 8, where she will face top rivals including Devynne Charlton and Tia Jones. Ahead of her participation at the prestigious indoor meet, Russell elaborated on the major differences between the two events in an episode of her YouTube series - MOMENTUM. She said (2:00 onwards):

“The 60 hurdles is not too different from the 100 hurdles. The only thing that’s like the major difference is that it’s five hurdles, and you have to be very clean, very effective, much quicker and much sooner than you would in the 100 hurdles, where in that race, it’s 10 hurdles.”

Masai Russell further shared her approach to preparing for both events, adding:

“But for me, the setup isn’t really that different."

The 2024 season was a memorable one for the American hurdler as she not only qualified for her first Olympic Games but also collected the gold medal in Paris with a remarkable 12.33s run in the 100m hurdles final.

After winning the Olympics, she reflected on the advice that she would give to her younger version.

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Masai Russell opens up about advice she would give to her younger self

Masai Russell at Paris Olympics (Photo: Getty Images)

Masai Russell opened up on the advice she would give to her younger self. In an interview with the team behind Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos Meet, she shared the inspiring advice, stating:

“The advice that I would want to give my younger self is just to have faith and believe in anything that she wants to do and focus on your path, and focus on literally what’s meant for you. And what’s meant for you is going to be at the end of that finish line.”

Russell added how she backed herself to win the 100m hurdles at the Paris Olympics by trusting in her training and hard work.

“It was really a moment for me where I, like, believed in what I was doing, believed in the training, and believed that it would work. And it finally worked. I won for the first time ever in my career and I won on the biggest stage. So, it was just a test all along. But definitely just having belief in whatever you’re putting yourself to,” she said.

At the Athlos NYC in September 2024, Russell went on to conclude her 2024 season with a third-place finish in the 100m hurdles.