'I don't know how much sleep I got' — Masai Russell reveals her thought process the night before winning Olympic gold in 100m hurdles

100m hurdles champion has revealed how tough it was for her to catch sleep on the night before ruling the French Capital in her specialty.

The 24-year-old said being her maiden appearance at the global stage, she couldn’t count the number of times she had tried to close her eyes without success.

Russell, 24, boasts a personal best of 12.25 seconds in her specialty.

Russell flew over the line in 12.33 seconds, edging home fevourite Cyrena Samba-Mayela by just 0.01s. Defending champion Jasmine of Puerto Rico followed in third place with 12.36s. Sharing her story on The Pivot, channel, the ever-smiling sprint sensation said: «The first time you saw me was actually the first time at that stage. I don’t know how much sleep I got or the number of times I closed my eyes and just took a nap. I felt I had not slept at all,» she said, adding that winning was the only thing doing rounds in her mind, however hard she tried to bypass the idea.

The American holds a personal best of 12.25 seconds over 100m hurdles

«All I was thinking was the race…like winning and how it will play out. It was definitely a sleepless night.» Russell is the US NCAA record holder in the 100 m hurdles. She was part of the US team to the 2023 World Athletics Championships and bagged top position in the where she also registered her personal best of 12.25 seconds.

Russell says she could visualise her victory even before she stepped on the track but had to concentrate maximally to avoid distractions from her set target. «I didn’t want anything to distract me from my goal. That was my mindset.  The only thing I was visualising was me coming to the line first..nothing else.» She went on: «Before I went on the track, I had to stay calm, meditating and just being at ease. What also helped me was listening to motivational talks.»