American Olympic champion Masai Russell has broken Nigerian sprinter Tobi Amusan’s world record in the women’s 100m hurdles, clocking 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League in Switzerland on Thursday.
Gatekeepers News reports rhat Russell, 26, shaved 0.03 seconds off Amusan’s previous world record of 12.12 seconds, which the Nigerian set in the semi-final of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
The American’s performance came in a highly anticipated showdown with Amusan, who finished second in 12.23 seconds, her best time of the season. European champion Nadine Visser of the Netherlands placed third in 12.34 seconds.
Russell’s record-breaking run was achieved with no wind assistance, making the performance a legal world record. Her previous personal best was 12.14 seconds, which she recorded earlier this year.
Amusan’s 12.12-second mark had stood for four years and made her the first Nigerian to set a world record in athletics. She later won the world title at the same 2022 championships, becoming Nigeria’s first world champion in athletics.
Although Amusan crossed the line in 12.23 seconds in Zurich, she remains the fastest woman in the event when all performances are considered. Her 12.06-second run in the 2022 World Championships final was faster than her official world record, but it was aided by an illegal tailwind of 2.5 metres per second and therefore could not count as a record.
Russell, who won Olympic gold in the event at the Paris 2024 Olympics, had been closing in on Amusan’s record throughout the season. In May, she ran 12.14 seconds in Xiamen, becoming the second-fastest woman in history at the time.
The Zurich meeting produced another world record less than 40 minutes earlier, with Brazil’s Alison dos Santos breaking Karsten Warholm’s men’s 400m hurdles record with a time of 45.80 seconds.
The result marks the end of Amusan’s four-year hold on the women’s 100m hurdles world record, while Russell becomes only the second American woman after Keni Harrison to hold the event’s world record.
