Masai Russell is officially the fastest 100 hurdler ever in the NCAA. At the Texas Relays she ran 12.36 with a 2.0 wind to put her name at the top of the record books. In her fifth and final season of eligibility she has proven that when she is on her game, nobody deserves to cross the line ahead of her. Five years ago, nobody would have predicted that she would have made it this far. Which raises the question, how in the world did she do it? So here is the story of Masai Russell’s insane rise to the top as a collegiate hurdler. An amazing book that she’s still writing the last chapter to.

Masai Russell was always a top talent

Masai Russell’s career is unique because she has been so talented across a range of different events. In short Masai is a gamer. Where whatever the event she ends up competing in, she will find a way to compete amongst the best at it. In high school she was fastest indoor hurdler in the state of Maryland as a senior. But as a sophomore she was also the fastest in the indoor 300 meter and 500 meter. She was Maryland’s Gatorade track athlete of the year as a senior, and finished as a bronze medalist at the Pan American junior games in the 400 hurdles. That is a lot of range for one athlete. So since Masai chose to run for Kentucky, she has spent time figuring herself out across all these events. Which is both good and bad depending on how you look at it.

Masai is one of the most improved hurdlers in the NCAA

Masai has always been talented, but as good as she was she needed to get better to even threaten to win at the NCAA level. Her best 100 and 300 hurdle races in high school were 13.84, and 40.16 respectively. And she crushed those numbers by running 13.02 as a freshman in the 100 hurdles, and eventually 57.34 in the 400 hurdles. The truth is she already dropped more time in the 100 hurdles as a freshman than many hurdlers do for their entire college career. Yet it was the 400 hurdles that qualified for the NCAA outdoor meet. Which is why you can see how coaches might be confused.

Masai has learned how to win

Masai Russell has always been good enough at both hurdle races for coaches to try to coach her as such. And she has always been good at both. But her 100 hurdle races have continued to get better and better every year, where at first she didn’t even make the NCAAs. As a sophomore she finished 6th in the finals. Last year she finished third, and we already know where she is trending now as a senior. Simply put, hurdlers don’t get this good in college without special talent, and special dedication. And Masai has outdone herself because against all odds, the girl who didn’t even make the NCAAs four years ago, is now the woman holding the collegiate record.

The Bottom Line

Every race that Masai runs from here on out is just a formality. When you are a collegiate record holder, you are no longer able to win a national championship. All you can do is fail to win. She is the favorite from here on out, in any short hurdle race she runs, but she’s never won an NCAA championship yet. Believe it or not, until this past indoor season, she had never even won an SEC championship in the 100 hurdles, or 60 meter hurdle races. Masai is at the top of her game, and we already know that she is a gamer. So for the rest of 2023, it doesn’t appear to matter, how well everybody else runs at this years NCAAs, or even the SEC championships anymore. Because if Masai is on top of her game, then the title already belongs to her.

KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.

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