- Sets new women’s 100m hurdles world record in 12.09secs
Olympic champion, Masai Russell of the United States (US) has shattered Tobi Amusan’s women’s 100m hurdles world record by clocking 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday, August 27, 2026.
The American athlete ran a blistering 12.09 seconds, chipping off 0.03s to break Amusan’s 12.12s record that has stood for four years. Amusan set the old mark at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States.
In the record breaking race, Amusan finished second with a season-best time of 12.23 seconds, while the third place went to Nadine Visser of the Netherlands who finished in 12.34 seconds to also record her season’s best.
Before watching her four-year-old record shattered by the American runner, Amusan has failed to win several high-profile races coming into the Zurich meet, including a third place finish at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The race was a keenly contested duel between both Russell and Amusan, with the American the quickest off the block ahead of the Nigerian.
However, Amusan caught up with the American at the fourth hurdle and both athletes were neck-to-neck until the seventh hurdle after which Russell found another gear to pull ahead of Amusan in the final to finish in world record time.
With the recording shattering performance, Russell has become the first athlete in 28 years to hold both the world record and Olympics gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles event. So far, the American remains undefeated this season, having won all seven Diamond League events she has featured in this year.
