Masai Russell won over the world with her 100m hurdles win at the Silesia Diamond League. She ran the race in 12.36 seconds in the second heat and then got fast enough to finish the final race in just 12.19 seconds with a tailwind of +1.4 m/s. This was her first-ever Diamond League win, and that certainly made this an ‘omega’ moment for the athlete. But did you know that Russell was almost on the verge of pulling out of the Silesia Diamond League? 

Yes, even though this was her first Diamond League win after nine failed attempts in the past, there was a moment that almost kept her from participating in Poland. Following her big win on August 16, 2025, which happened to be the third-fastest time in history, Russell, in an interview, revealed, “It was amazing. My travel was so messed up, at first I did not want to race. I came two days ago, there were a lot of obstacles, but I stayed positive.” 

But the win doesn’t mean Russell has found her stop this season. She intends to ace the race at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships as well. Masai Russell continued, “I am definitely very confident going into Tokyo. I have to do this in September. After the Lausanne meeting I will go home and train for two weeks and then we will have a training camp near Tokyo for two weeks.” 

Of course, she doesn’t really want to repeat her travel troubles in Silesia in the future. Hence, she opted for the two-week training camp. And that’s going to be pretty helpful. Why? She’s already in the spotlight as one of the toughest competitors in the 100m hurdle race at the World Championships. Russell knows that she has already defeated the women who are going to compete against her in Tokyo. And with a tad bit more focus and training, she can repeat her Paris Olympics stance (Yep, she’s the Olympic Champion) and become the world champion. 

After all, her Olympic debut season taught her quite a lot about perseverance and strength. And when she reached the grand stage in Paris, aiming to bring home that gold in the 100m hurdles, she found herself staring at a tiny setback. Much like the other athletes who lived in the Olympic village, she faced trouble with the accommodations and the overwhelming feeling of competing on such a big stage as well. And as it turns out, she barely managed the optimum amount of sleep the night before she won her Olympic gold! Now, if her history is anything to go by, maybe the world championship is not far.

And if you remember, Masai Russell was pretty vocal about her stance for the World Athletics Championships. Following her Silesia win, she stated, “This is important to me because these are the women I am going to be running against at World Championships. I did it at USAs, and now I’ve done it on the world stage.” But can she prevent the travel issues from happening again in Japan? We’ll get to see that in due time.

But not every issue with track is about travel mess-ups. The major problem lies in the broadcast. Let’s see what Russell had to say about this problem. 

Masai Russell reveals the sad reality of track

Not too long ago, Russell took to YouTube and uploaded a vlog titled ‘Masai Russell: Life after winning the Olympics.’ Therein, she shared footage from her interviews about track and field. She said, “If you’re not following a track athlete that is posting on their page when the times we’re going to run and what broadcast is on because there’s so many different platforms.”

It’s true that the sport is pretty popular. But despite that, it tends to lose viewership due to the confusing structure. She continued, “And I mean, it’s just sad because we’re one of the most watched sports during the Olympics, and people only know about track during the Olympics. Track is a very interesting sport.” 

According to her, Alexis Ohanian found a way to promote the sport in the best possible way. And that’s via Athlos. During an interview with ESPN, Masai Russell claimed, “But track is on; you just don’t know where to find it… So now that we have the eyes aligned with the team that’s trying to show us to the world, I feel like it’s just going to continue to blow. I just think it’s kind of unfortunate that someone outside of the track space had to really realize that and understand the growth that our sport is capable of. It’s just sad.” 

But what do you think of the problems? Do you think a better, streamlined broadcasting system can save the sport? And what do you think of Russell’s travel issues? Drop down to the comments below and let us know your thoughts.