ZURICH, Switzerland: U.S. Olympic champion Masai Russell set a women’s 100m hurdles world record at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich on Thursday, August 27.
Russell celebrated after crossing the finish line by placing her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture, before addressing criticism she had received online.
The 29-year-old Washington, D.C. athlete said some critics had predicted that 12.14 seconds would remain the limit of her career. She said she had saved those comments and viewed the performance as an answer to those who doubted her.
Masai Russell 🇺🇸 storms to a World Record of 12.09s (0.0) over 100mH at the Zurich Diamond League!🤯🤯
2. Tobi Amusan 🇳🇬 12.23
3. Nadine Visser 🇳🇱 12.34 pic.twitter.com/TVkuPIPZXz
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) August 27, 2026Russell also said she believed favourable wind conditions could eventually help produce a sub-12-second performance.
The Olympic champion said that achieving the goals she had previously set gave her confidence that breaking the 12-second barrier was possible.
Russell was alongside Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova, an Olympic champion who subsequently held the world record in the event. Donkova won Olympic gold at Seoul 1988 and held the record until American Keni Harrison surpassed it in 2016.
