American Olympic champion Masai Russell has smashed Tobi Amusan’s world record in the women’s 100m hurdles, bringing an end to the Nigerian’s four-year hold on the event, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Russell clocked a remarkable 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday, shaving three hundredths of a second off Amusan’s previous world record of 12.12 seconds set at the Letzigrund Stadium.
The 26-year-old finished ahead of Amusan, who came second with a season’s best of 12.23 seconds.
Amusan exploded out of the blocks in the star-studded field, but Russell began pulling clear from the 40-metre mark and went on to cross the line in 12.09 seconds. Nadine Visser rounded off the podium in third with a season-best 12.34 seconds.
Prior to Russell’s record-breaking run, Amusan had been the world-record holder with a time of 12.12 seconds, clocked in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. She had actually gone on to win that final in 12.06 seconds, but the run wasn’t ratified as a world record because of excessive tailwind.
Russell had flirted with the record earlier in the season, running 12.14 seconds at the Xiamen Diamond League in May a time that made her the second-fastest woman in history in the event at that point.
Her 12.09-second run in Zurich now hands her the world record and places two of the three fastest legal times ever run in the event under her name.
The two rivals will renew their duel in just a few days’ time when the Diamond League Final holds in Brussels, Belgium, from September 4 to 5.
Elsewhere, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos also shattered the men’s 400m hurdles world record in a stunning display.
The 26-year-old, who had enjoyed a strong season and gone unbeaten in the event so far, wasn’t widely tipped to threaten Karsten Warholm’s 2021 record of 45.94 seconds.
But with Warholm trailing well behind in second place at 46.69 seconds, Tokyo 2025 silver medallist dos Santos surged through the line in 45.80 seconds.
Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel finished third in 47.50 seconds, an improvement on his fourth-place showing at the Silesia Diamond League the previous week.
With Zurich now done, two major fixtures remain on the athletics calendar: the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium, from September 4 to 5, and the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, holding in Budapest, Hungary, later in September.
