Olympic 100m hurdles gold medalist Masai Russell outlines her expectations for 2025 indoor season

Masai Russell, a prominent track and field star clinched her first gold medal in the Paris Olympics 2024 in 100m hurdles event. She recently talked about what her plans are for the 2025 indoor season and how she envisions herself to perform.

Russell is a record holder in US NCAA in 100m hurdles and attained third position in Pan American U20 Championships in 400m hurdles event. The track athlete shared her thoughts on her YouTube channel in the segment, “MOMENTUM: EPISODE 3.

“The things I'm expecting from indoor is just to just make sure I have clean races execute I want to win of course and I just want to build off of where I was at from last year like mentally, physically and just in each and every competition and then to build off of it. I just want to keep that same momentum I brought from the Olympics going into this year,” she said [0:10 onwards]

Russell showed her promise in track and field from the collegiate level and rose to prominence on the international stage with the win at the Paris Games. Russell will also be a part of the four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson’s inaugural season of Grand Slam Track.

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Masai Russell reflects on her journey of overcoming limitations

Masai Russell at the Closing Ceremony - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 16 - Source: Getty

Masai Russell broke the collegiate record in the NCAA 60m hurdles event. She also competed in the World Indoor Championships in the UK in 60m hurdles attaining the fourth position. She finally medaled at the Paris Olympics and shed light on her journey via “Masai Russell”, her YouTube channel.

“I broke two collegiate records, but I did not become a NCAA champion in either indoor or outdoor because of my mental, because I allowed the pressure to become bigger than what I was doing. And I just wasn't within my mind, body, spirit alignment. I feel like God just shows you, he puts you through it and he going to keep putting you through it until you pass it. So, for me, I failed two tests last year at NCAA's indoor, NCAA outdoor, but I passed it this year at Olympic trials and at the Olympics.”

Masai Russell reminisced how the stress and tension got to her and she was not able to focus on her mentality. However, she overcame the challenges once she found her strength. Russell acheived her maiden gold medal at the Paris Olympics in the 100m hurdles, clocking a time of 12.33 seconds.