Meet the world record-holding, YouTube star American hurdler Masai Russell

By Fraser Godden, CNN

(CNN) — Fourteen races, fourteen victories and a new world-record to boot. Few athletes in the world have had a more successful 2026 than American track and field star Masai Russell, if any at all.

The 26-year-old, though, is not done yet.

Ahead of a career-defining, two-year cycle which includes the World Championships in 2027 and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Russell wants to show that she is the “best hurdler to ever exist.”

“Just like people are still talking about Usain Bolt and how his records just seem so untouchable,” she says to CNN Sports, “I want people to question the same thing about Masai like, ‘How was she able to do this?’”

A dominant season

It’s remarkable to think that, this year, Russell stood on the 100m hurdles start line 14 times and, on every occasion, crossed the finish line first.

For a sense of that dominance, the last team to go 14-0 at the start of an NFL season was the Carolina Panthers in 2015.

Her unbeaten record, however, tells only part of the story. In August, at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich, the Olympic champion broke the world record, clocking a time of 12.09, beating Tobi Amusan’s previous mark by three-hundredths of a second.

Russell, though, was hardly surprised. “When I ran 12.09, I was like: Did we not expect this?’” she says.

“At the end of the day, it was truly just a blessing to put the work in for so many years and to see the work come out. Regardless of what people have said that I could or couldn’t do, it’s a blessing to see that hard work really does work.”

To round off a flawless season, Russell won the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in 12.22 – the ninth time she went under 12.3 seconds this year. For context, a female athlete has run under 12.3 in the discipline only 49 times in history.

Her unbeaten season and world record have earned Russell a nomination for the 2026 Women’s World Athlete of the Year award, which will be presented at the World Athletics Awards in Monaco on November 29.

Given the scale of Russell’s extraordinary achievements, it would be foolish to bet against her taking the crown, though she faces stiff competition from athletes including 100m and 200m star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and European 800m champion Audrey Werro.

“I think whatever is meant for me is gonna be,” she says with a wry smile. “But I don’t think anyone did what I did this year in terms of being undefeated, breaking the world record, the times that I was running, all the meet records that I broke.

“So, whatever’s going to be is going to be – but I do believe I should win it.”

A competitive streak from childhood

Russell first began athletics at eight years old, growing up in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in a fiercely competitive family.

Her older brothers, Philip and Devine, played basketball and used track to improve their speed. For their younger sister, they became her first competitors. Some of her earliest athletics memories are of racing them on the street outside their house.

“I think my competitive drive definitely came from growing up with my brothers, growing up being the only girl for a long time, just really becoming one of the guys,” Russell recalls.

“I think that’s why I was so fast because I was just competing against them, trying to keep up with them.”

Russell’s parents, Sharon and Mark Russell, devoted countless hours to helping her pursue her ambitions, providing the support that would underpin her rise to the top of the sport.

She recalls endless days spent at track meets where her father would set up a tent and make sure she had food and the support needed to thrive.

Similarly, Russell watched her mother balance parenthood with her medical career as a doctor, demonstrating the work ethic that has stayed with her throughout her career.

“She definitely showed me what hard work was, what hard work looked like, what being driven and getting it done regardless of how you feel.”

Even as a carefree eight-year-old, Russell was developing the drive that would define her career.

“I was always having fun, but I had a competitive edge to me. I always just wanted to win. I always wanted to be the best and I just had a different work ethic than everyone else.”

Olympic gold and international success

The lessons learned and the work ethic instilled by her parents would prove crucial when Russell encountered the first major setbacks in her career.

At the 2023 NCAA Championships in Texas, Russell ran a blistering time of 12.32 yet was beaten to the line by Ackera Nugent.

Later that summer, having turned professional, Russell qualified for her first World Championships but crashed out at the semifinals after clipping the second hurdle.

It was a crushing blow for a supremely talented athlete ready to show what she was made of on the world stage. Painful as it was, Russell saw the setback as part of the process.

“I’ve lost a lot, but at the end of the day, you can’t win without losing,” she tells CNN Sports. “You can’t win without failure; you can’t win without having some bumps in the road to make you appreciate why you have won.”

The 2024 season also began poorly and winning felt “allergic” to Russell. By her own admission, her times were underwhelming and her first season as a pro athlete threatened to disappoint.

Then it all clicked. Russell won her first national title at the US Olympic Trials, setting herself up for the biggest race of her career at the Olympics in Paris.

A little over a month later, Russell claimed gold in the women’s 100m hurdles, edging out France’s Cyréna Samba-Mayela by one hundredth of a second.

“Crossing the line in Paris, I didn’t know that I won,” Russell recalls. “I looked up and was like ‘I know I got a medal, but which one?’ And when I saw my name come up, I just lost it.

“I won the Olympic trials a month before that which was the first time I ever won a national title, and then to come a month later to win my first global title was nothing but a dream, nothing but a freaking dream.”

Success on and off the track

The emotion of Russell’s Olympic triumph is captured in her YouTube vlog “I WON THE OLYMPICS”, which offers a glimpse of the celebrations shared with her family and team in Paris.

Russell’s long-time coach Lonnie Greene has worked with her since her days at the University of Kentucky. In the vlog, a bleary-eyed Greene addresses the camera in the aftermath of her victory.

“I told you. I told you you could break the world record, if not be the Olympic champion, and God has allowed that to come to fruition. You will break the world record sooner than you think.”

How remarkably prescient that prediction turned out to be.

Russell began her YouTube channel in 2017 as a 16-year-old and it’s where she feels the greatest connection with her fans – all 69,300 of them – sharing blogs about her personal and professional life.

But Russell’s ambitions extend beyond creating content. With an established following across YouTube and Instagram and her own merchandise line, she is already building a personal brand that can exist independently of her athletics career.

“I love to create content and just show my life and show what I’m doing and showcase the things off the track too and showing that I’m bigger than just an athlete,” she says.

“So, yeah, the biggest motivation for me is just allowing people to come on this journey with me.”

A bright future

From racing her brothers on the streets of Upper Marlboro to becoming the fastest female 100-meter hurdler in history, Russell has already come a long way.

But the next two years will help determine her legacy in the sport.

She will first have a shot at redemption at the World Championships in 2027, followed by the LA Olympic Games in 2028 where she’ll bid to become the first woman in history to win back-to-back 100m hurdles Olympic titles.

“I’ve won the Ultimates and checked that off. Won the Olympics and checked that off,” she says. “But now, it’s time to check off a World Championship title and dominate. Continue to show people that I am the best hurdler to ever exist.”

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