'She proved me wrong' - fan reacts to Masai Russell winning major award after heroics at Paris Olympics

There was scant information regarding Masai Russell until she silenced critics by bagging gold in 100m hurdles at the Paris Olympic Games.

Her rise to prominence at the quadrennial championship took many by surprise, not least her chest-thumping fans. Russell, 24, was awarded  the Breakthrough Performer award USATF Wing Awards, presented by the Greater Orlando Sports Commission on December 8.

Russell's award alongside Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (most dominant American track and field athlete of the Paris Games) and Quincy Hall (Most Inspirational Performance honor) captured the attention of her adoring fans, most of whom thought she had overachieved in 2024.  

"She proved me wrong. I didn't have her making the team or the Olympics final," one fan commented after Russell posted the victory on the X platform. As if this was not enough, another fan popped up: "Her face is in the dictionary, next to the world legend."

In an event that is typically the hardest in which to make Team USATF, Russell rose to the top of the women's 100m hurdles world with a 12.33 at Paris to take Olympic gold by .01 seconds.

Russell was fourth in the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in early March and had a rocky start to her outdoor campaign that included a ninth-place finish in the 100m hurdles at the Prefontaine Classic.

With everything on the line, she blazed to a world-leading and lifetime best 12.25 to win the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field and then raced to gold in Paris. Her Trials performance made her the No. 2 all-time U.S. performer and was the fourth fastest time ever by an American.