Masai Russell smashes 100m world record, stuns critics with 'shush' celebration

U.S. trailblazing athlete Masai Russell shuts down critics, setting a new 100m world record at a buzzing night in Zurich on Thursday, August 27.

The 29-year-old from Washington, D.C., previously held the second and third fastest times in history behind Amusan’s world record of 12.14 seconds set in May 2026.

When Russell crossed the finish line, she held her index finger to her closed mouth in a shushing motion.

Russell smashes the women’s 100m hurdles in a world record 12.9 seconds at the Diamond League run in Zurich, Germany.

In a post-heat interview, Russell takes aim at the critics, saying, “I see what people say online. People were like, ‘Masai’s PB by the end of her career’s going to 12.14.’”

“I bookmarked that. I can’t wait to quote-tweet that because I’, just like, y’all really doubted me?

"Every time y’ll doubt me I just show y’ll that I’m not like anybody else,” Russell said, still buzzing with triumph as she continued to hit back at the doubters.

“If we get a 1.9 wind behind my back, that could have been a sub-12 race,” Russell said of her own record.

"Everything that I’ve said that I wanted to do has come into fruition, so why not say I think I can be the first one to run sub-12?”

The Olympic champion Russell, with this feat, becomes the first woman to pair an Olympic gold with a world record in the event since Bulgarian Yordanka Donkova, held the world record from 1988 until 2016, when American Keni Harrison smashed it.

Donkova also won Olympic gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.