"You can call me a rookie and a vet"- Masai reflects on running 12.44 in 'catchup' race as she concludes most successful season of her career so far

Masai Russell ended the 2024 athletic season on a decent note with a third-place finish at the Athlos NYC meet 2024. The Olympic champion clocked 12.44 seconds to stand third overall, behind Alaysha Johnson of USA and Jasmine-Camacho Quinn of Puerto Rico

While Russell was not impressed with the way her event was organized, she was far from disappointed. Taking it to X, she opened up on the race, saying:

"12.44 in a “catch up” race to end an unforgettable season… I guess you can call me a rookie and a vet."

Russell referred to her post-race protest, where her agent spoke to the meet director about the problems before the event. She said (via Citius Mag):

"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."

The Athlos NYC was Masai Russell's final race for this season. Before that, she participated in a couple of Diamond League meets, including the Silesia Diamond League meet. However, she couldn't collect enough points to take part in the Diamond League finals held in Brussels.

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Masai Russell's best performances of the 2024 season

Masai Russell of the USA at the Silesia Diamond League 2024 meet [Image Source: Getty]

Before 2024, Masai Russell was not very well known in the world of track and field. Her best performance to date was reaching the semifinals of the World Championships in Budapest in 2023.

However, in 2024, everything changed. Russell made her presence felt on the world stage when she broke the Olympic record timing of Jasmine Camacho-Quinn to clock a new world-leading time of 12.25 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials 2024.

With that timing, Russell managed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, where she surprised one and all when she reached the finals. She edged out local favorite Cyrena-Samba Mayela of France and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in an intense race, which was ultimately decided by photo finish. Russell clocked 12.33 seconds to win the first Olympic gold medal for the USA in this event since Brianna Rollins-McNeal won it at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

After her historic performance at the Paris Olympics, Russell participated in three races of the Diamond League, viz. the Silesia Meet, the Rome Meet, and the Zurich Meet. Russell finished fourth at Silesia, second at Rome, and third overall at the Zurich Diamond League. However, she didn't have enough points to participate in the finals of the Wanda Diamond League 2024 held in Brussels.