American Olympic champion Masai Russell has broken Tobi Amusan’s women’s 100-meter hurdles world record, clocking 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday.
Russell produced a stunning finish at the Letzigrund Stadium, pulling away over the final hurdle to beat Amusan’s previous mark of 12.12 seconds by 0.03 seconds.
Amusan, Nigeria’s world champion, finished second in 12.23 seconds, recording a season’s best, while Dutch hurdler Nadine Visser was third in 12.34 seconds, also a season’s best.
Amusan had held the world record since July 2022, when she ran 12.12 seconds in the semifinals of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
World Athletics later ratified the performance as the official world record.
The Nigerian had also won the world title in Eugene, producing a wind-assisted 12.06 seconds in the final after setting the world record in the semifinals.
Russell had been closing in on Amusan’s record this season.
She ran 12.14 seconds at the Xiamen Diamond League in May, becoming the second-fastest woman in history at the time.
“Masai Russell storms to a World Record of 12.09s (0.0) over 100mH at the Zurich Diamond League!” Track & Field Gazette posted after the race.
Russell, 26, is now the first woman since Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova to hold both the Olympic 100m hurdles title and the world record.
Donkova achieved the feat after winning Olympic gold in 1988.
Amusan remains one of the leading hurdlers in the world and is currently ranked No. 2 by World Athletics.
Comments
Add a comment