This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

CITIUS MAG: It doesn’t feel the Paris Olympics were three months ago, for me at least. How’s it been for you, especially now that the title of “Olympic champion” is attached to your name for the rest of your life?

Masai Russell: It feels crazy. My life has been very hectic, I’ve been on the go, I haven’t sat down for longer than a week. But now I’m finally chilling out and everything’s starting to slow down so I can get back into training. It’s been great, it’s been crazy, and it’s such a blessing and an honor, and it still feels crazy that I have that title next to my name. I never was a contender or a person to win, so the fact that I was able to get the biggest one that everyone wants. Even from not winning any NCAA titles, and now in my first year as a professional to win the U.S. championship and then to win the Olympics. My life changed overnight, literally.

What’s been the coolest opportunity that’s come about since winning gold?

The coolest one definitely was to be courtside at the Celtics game. I was right next to the check-in box, the head coach was walking right past me, all the players was coming to check in, so that was really cool. And then going to the Ravens game, the crowd just showed so much love. I mean the White House is really cool too. Even though that wasn’t individualized just for me, it was still cool to be at the White House getting honored as one of the best athletes in the world. All of the experiences have been amazing, but those are my top three for sure.

If someone would’ve told you in June at the Olympic Trials that your life was going to change in this way, and it’s only been three months, but has it felt like it’s really, really changed?

I feel like this is just the beginning for me. I’m moving into the steps that I feel like I see my life being. I’ve always told everyone that, for me, this is just the beginning. This is just me scratching the surface of what I’m going to do in my life, how much more great I’m going to be in track, and all the opportunities I’m going to be able to be presented.

I never really had a vision of what I’d seen for myself. I knew I wanted to be a professional athlete and I knew I wanted to be very successful, but I just had a vision of who I wanted to be and didn’t know how it would come about. Every day, every month, every year, it continues to show me that I’m moving in the right steps.

So now that we’re putting a bow on 2024 and this is your first week back at work, what have these first weeks back in training felt like? And it’s been a long year for you now that I’m thinking about it, because you were competing on the indoor circuit too in January and February.

So I’m going to do indoor once again. I love indoor, I love to compete, I love to line up and just get reps in. I don’t feel like I’m at a point where I can just not run the indoor season and then open up outdoor. I am still a rookie, and of course I have this really big title next to my name, but the way that I approach my season and the way that people see me in the sport, that change what I’ve got to do at the end of the day. I’m not going to change up my whole flow because I won, and that means doing indoors.

I am back training, this is closing out the second week, and it’s been going really good. I think I’m ahead of where I was at last year mentally and physically. I have some big goals coming. You know the women’s 100mH don’t make it easy on anybody, so 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. And that’s not just going to come with me still living in being an Olympic champion from August. We’ve got to do it again, we’ve got to keep training even harder every time and just keep the momentum going. I’m already here, I’m young, I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity and just keep pushing.

We’re here with the news that you’ll be running at the Millrose Games. What makes that meet special and something you wanted to immediately be a part of in 2025?

Last year I wasn't able to be a part of [Millrose Games] because it was my first year on the professional circuit. It was the week before USAs, so I didn't want to do too much traveling while I was in the process of getting my feet wet. But the Millrose Games have a very special place in my heart because I ran there all four years when I was in high school as a Bullis athlete…

I was watching those professional athletes when I was in high school and I wanted to be in their place. It’s definitely going to mean a lot to come back and I know the energy at that meet is just electric. The Armory is so electric, so close and tight-knit, and the fans know what's going on. I’m just excited to finally run there because I wanted to run there last year. I haven’t competed at The Armory since I was in high school, so I have a lot of memories there.

How does the 60mH fit into your development for the 100mH?

For us personally, it’s not really a major change in what we do, it’s just working the front part of the race. The 60mH is five hurdles and the 100mH is 10 hurdles. So it’s really just making sure that you’re maximizing the start, because it’s really hard to play catch up over five or four hurdles. Then we bring that momentum into outdoor and you have that good start that just sets everything else up down the road, which is why I’m able to get the most out of my acceleration in the 100mH.

For us it’s more about rhythm and getting my feet wet before the main outdoor season. And why not do Worlds, why not go all the way there to be the best? I’m not going to do anything to be lukewarm or play in the middle. I don’t have to run all the way through World Indoors, but it just makes sense.

You’ll be racing with Grand Slam too, which will be eight races throughout the season. What do you enjoy about the actual thrill of racing, is there something you get out of getting those reps in every time out in actual races?

I understand that the hurdles is a technical event and you have to run to get the technique better. I’m a very secure person in my ability, so although it may not look flawless in April, best believe when we get to USAs it’s gonna be perfected. So I’m okay with taking the hits and maybe not winning earlier in the season to work on those smaller things to make sure they are fixed going into the championship cycle.

And I really enjoy the thrill, I love lining up to see the work that you put in just show out and display itself in a huge way. Coach Greene is a very tough coach, so if I can compete instead of doing a couple longer runs, I’m just gonna do the competition and then we’ll pick it back up. A 12-second race is easier than a whole day at practice doing repeat 400s.

You’re gonna have to run the 100m a few times for Grand Slam this year. At the Racers Summit, every 100mH person I spoke with is confident that they’re going to be fastest over the 100m. So lay it out for me, why is Masai going to be the fastest 100m runner?

If you can run 12.2 with some hurdles in front of you, and my coach always says that’s 10 starting and stopping accelerations, I know I have what it takes to run 11. It’s a race that has its own techniques that you have to learn, so I think that’s what’s going to be more fun for me, learning the rhythm of setting up the 100m the right way. You’re not popping your head up after two or three steps, you’re pushing for longer. I know I’m fast and it’s going to be exciting to see.

I ran 11.4 three years ago when I wasn’t in the shape I’m in now. I wasn’t good, I wasn’t strong, I had run 12.7 in the hurdles. So if you do the math, it would make sense if I run 11.1, 11.0, prayers up 10.9, that’s the goal.

You’ve got your own channel and YouTube and you do a great job of storytelling from your own perspective, but now I want you to paint the picture for me of what you were like leaving the hotel, in the call room before the best race you’ve put together on the biggest stage in the world?

Honestly that night before I couldn’t sleep. It felt like my eyes were closed and I was just thinking. I woke up, ate breakfast, and we didn’t compete until later that evening so I was really mellow and tried to stay very in the moment. I couldn’t imagine myself not winning.

What does that look like when you’re envisioning it?

I’m literally just seeing me cross the finish line. I was visualizing it being a very close race, but I just saw me coming across the finish line first. I was so happy that’s what I was visualizing, and I think it just played into the thoughts I was having leading up to the whole year.

And then Tara [Davis-Woodhall] actually came in there, and that was the night after she had won, and she was giving me a pep talk. That gave me the extra confidence. And we already knew what the goal was for our room going into the Olympics. We had a picture of us from USAs together holding up our gold medals, because we both had won Olympic Trials, and we were like, “We’re gonna do this again at the Olympics.”

I kept saying to myself when I was in the call room, when I was warming up, when I was on my way to the track, I’m just like, “It’s possible, it’s possible, it’s possible.” I just tried to stay within myself and not let the moment get bigger than me. I’m here for a reason, and I don’t want to regret for the next four years what could have been.

When I was in the call room, I was like, “My life can change forever, do it right now. Who’s stopping you from doing it?” And that’s why I just feel like I looked so determined and I was so locked in. I did not take my eyes off those hurdles when I was on the track because I’m not going to stop, I’m not going to go out without a fight. I came off that last hurdle and I ran for my life. I looked up on that board and I see my name pop up first, nothing else mattered in that moment. None of the hard training, none of the losses I took, nothing mattered in that moment. I just won the freaking Olympics, I couldn’t believe it. On the podium I was bawling because I’m like, “Am I living in a dream right now?”

It’s still mind-blowing to know how much you’ve gone through throughout your whole entire career, for people to talk down on you, for people to doubt you, to get your collegiate records broken, never winning an NCAA title, never winning anything, realistically, and then I just won the Olympics. It was a testament to my hard work, my faith, my dedication, my drive. It was the cherry on top.

I’ve done so many interviews with Quincy Wilson all throughout the year, and it feels like so much of this has been instilled in you guys at such a young age with such an accomplished program like Bullis. How did that all start, the mindset that you guys carry in and out of competition to chase your best?

For a lot of kids on the Bullis track team, it’s just a standard that you understand. You have a standard within yourself and then a standard for whatever program you’re competing with. For me, I’m signed with Nike, and everyone knows the standard of Nike - Just do it. I keep the main thing the main thing. If you’re not running fast, that’s nobody’s problem but yours.

I grew up with all brothers, and I think all these different things make you who you are. For me, that was growing up with brothers, being on a team like Bullis, coming to a track team like Kentucky, all these different pods have conditioned me and made me who I am.

What is the most common question you’ve gotten from these young girls that you inspire now?

A lot of people are just like, “How does it feel?” When they see my medal they just ask how, because there’s so much work that goes into it. And I don’t think people can fathom the amount of work, time, and dedication it takes to be an amazing athlete, let alone an Olympic gold medallist. So I always make sure to tell them a very detailed story so that they can get a very good understanding of how hard but how amazing this was.

This is the first year that you are a professional runner, but it sounds to me like you love your job. What’s your favorite part of this job that you get to do every single day?

For one, just the community. Getting to be on the circuit with your friends, people you went to college with that you actually end up getting close with. And then also winning! Winning is very nice, but the progression to winning is even more amazing. Winning the Olympics was a dream, but the progression that it took to get there, I wouldn’t turn that in for anything. It just made it worthwhile. You really take yourself to this place, not knowing what’s going to happen or what the outcome’s going to be. But when the outcome is what you dreamed it would be, it’s a feeling like no other.

I’m sitting here listening to all this thinking Netflix missed out on following you for the whole season.

I know, come on Netflix! They need to start a HURDLE. They’ve got SPRINT going, they need to start HURDLE, DISTANCE, THROWS, everyone should have their own little season. But I think now, the women’s hurdles, it’s the time to showcase all our stories. We go head-to-head every single weekend, no one ducks any smoke, so they’re missing out on the hurdle era. This is the era people will talk about like, “Yeah, them girls was getting it.” We’re running times consistently that people didn’t even see at the Olympics, so Netflix needs to jump on this story.

I hear you and I’m like, “How did someone pack so much wisdom and life experience into one year when you’re 24?” How hard is 2024 going to be to top for 2025?

On the wisdom piece, a lot of people tell me that and say I’m so wise. The way I come off and the way people see me, they probably just think I’m a regular 24-year-old, but when you start talking to me I have a lot of depth to me. But I’m just going to continue to say that the foundation of what was set in 2024 is going to bring me the momentum into 2025.

I feel like I’ve been through it all, so regardless of whatever happens throughout the season, I think as long as I continue to keep the main goal getting to and through USAs and doing great there. There’s no World Championships or Olympics if you don’t show up at that meet.

2024 was amazing, it happened, it was there. But it’s in the past, and now I’m trying to create something else for this season and then the next season and the next season. I’m more excited this year than I’ve ever been.

Listen to the full episode here.

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