Olympic 100m Hurdles Champion Masai Russell Reflects On Her Breakout 2024 Season + Early Race Plans/Goals For 2025
The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show
CITIUS MAG
4.9 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I know that I have to come in even stronger, even faster, even better. I'm looking to break the world record indoors this season and win the world indoor title. That’s not going to come with me still living in being an Olympic champion from August. We've got to do it again.”
My guest for today's episode is Masai Russell, the Olympic champion in the 100m hurdles and one of track's brightest new stars. Masai's gold medal performance in Paris wasn't just a victory; it was a statement after a season filled with ups and downs and doubts. She channeled sheer will and resilience to seize the biggest title of her career crossing the finish line in a jaw-dropping photo finish that left fans around the world celebrating her triumph.
In this episode, Masai reflects on her remarkable 2024 season, the challenges she overcame to reach the top, and how she's already back to work with even bigger plans for 2025. There's also some great mindset talk in this conversation.
Plus, she's here to announce one of her first races of 2025 will be the 60m hurdles at the Millrose Games. This upcoming February, you can get your tickets on the Armory's website. She'll bring the same fearless energy that made her an Olympic champion.
Host: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram
Guest: Masai Russell | @masai_russell on Instagram
Time stamps:
3:20 - How life has been since becoming the 100m hurdles Olympic champion
4:17 - Opportunities since winning the Olympics
6:28 - Plans for racing indoor season
8:06 - Millrose annoucement: 60m hurdles
12:03 - How she progresses training to peak at the right meets
16:07 - What makes her stand out against her competitors
21:03 - The night and day leading into the Olympic final
26:47 - When the reality of becoming the Olympic champion sunk in
29:23 - How her experience at Bullis High School shaped her mindset
35:53 - Looking ahead to future races
41:18 - More reflections on winning the Olympics
44:05 - What it’s going to take to top 2024 in 2025
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody and welcome to the Citius Mag podcast. I'm Chris Chavez and this is my show where I chat with some of the biggest names on the track, on the roads, within the coaching ranks, and across the running industry. |
| 0:10.6 | Our guests sit down and open up in depth to share their experiences, brilliant insights, and vivid snapshots from their professional and personal accomplishments in the sport. |
| 0:19.0 | One quick thing at the start of the show, Sidious Mag and myself are now on Blue Sky. |
| 0:25.1 | We've seen lots of people migrate from Twitter or X to Blue Sky in recent weeks. |
| 0:31.8 | I wrote a whole post on our site and sent out a newsletter with some more thoughts about seeing this trend across media, specifically |
| 0:39.6 | within sports media. |
| 0:41.9 | Sidious Mag will not stop posting to X, but we will be posting everything on Blue Sky as |
| 0:47.8 | well. |
| 0:48.7 | At Chris Chavez on there, and it's at Citius Mag on Blue Sky Sky if you want to follow along. Honestly, first |
| 0:56.2 | impressions, it feels like what |
| 0:58.0 | track Twitter used to feel like. |
| 1:00.4 | Before we hit our interview, |
| 1:01.9 | we love giving the listeners a shout out when they leave |
| 1:04.0 | us a review. If you want yours to be read, |
| 1:06.2 | leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcast |
| 1:08.0 | and let us know why you love this show. |
| 1:10.4 | This week's review comes to us from Kenny Goodrich in Torrance, California. |
| 1:14.6 | He titled it, Finally. |
| 1:16.6 | We finally get to hear what the pros think about before, during, and after the race. |
| 1:21.7 | Not just five to ten minutes, a long conversation. |
| 1:25.0 | Those moments of excitement and fear during a race. |
| 1:28.1 | I watched Clayton's series on YouTube. |
... |
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