American Masai Russell wins Olympic gold in 100m hurdles by a 100th of a second

By Brian Mann

Published August 10, 2024 at 11:38 AM AKDT

Masai Russell, of the United States, wins the women's 100-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

SAINT-DENIS, France — Masai Russell bolted down the track, legs scissoring gracefully as she cleared the ten hurdles that separated her from the finish line.

The 24-year-old from Maryland lunged across a fraction of a second ahead of French hurdler Cyrena Samba-Mayela. Her margin of victory? One one-hundredth of a second.

There was a moment's delay while the photo finish was analyzed and Russell leapt in the air when her gold-medal win was confirmed. Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico took bronze at the Olympics.

The win bookends a dominant showing for U.S. women hurdlers in Paris. On Thursday, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed her own world record winning gold in the women's 400-meter final.