Paris Olympics: American Masai Russel claims 100mH gold after photo finish past her rivals

Paris Olympics: American Masai Russel claims 100mH gold after photo finish past her rivals

Joel Omotto 20:44 - 10.08.2024

Masai Russel won a closely-contested 100m hurdles final at the Paris Olympics to add another gold medal to Team USA on Saturday.

American Maasai Russel claimed an Olympics gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles when she floored her opponents in a very close race in Paris on Saturday.

Russel started well but needed a good leap after her rivals closed in quickly but she had done enough for the gold medal.

The American claimed victory in a time of 12.33 seconds ahead of Frenchwoman Cyrena Samba-Mayela who clocked 12.34 for silver medal as Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Pueto Rico had to settle for silver in 12.36 seconds.

Camacho-Quinn was considered favourite after winning the title in Tokyo three years ago and after a sliver medal at last year’s World Championships, she was out to make things right.

However, Russel had other ideas as she won the closely-contested race with the slimmest of margins.

It was an emotional moment for Samba-Mayela who burst into tears following her impressive performance as the partisan crowd cheered her.