Paris (AFP) – Masai Russell of the United States snatched victory in the Olympic women’s 100m hurdles on Saturday, edging out France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela in a photo finish. Russell won in 12.33 seconds to take gold, just a whisker ahead of Samba-Mayela, who clinched the host nation’s first athletics medal of the games in 12.34 seconds. Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took bronze in 12.36 seconds.
In a thrilling final at the Stade de France, it looked as if home hope Samba-Mayela might have snatched a sensational gold medal after crossing the finish line neck-and-neck with Russell. But after a brief delay, victory was awarded to Russell by the finest of margins ahead of the Frenchwoman. Confirmation of Samba-Mayela’s silver nevertheless drew one of the loudest roars of the week from the Parisian crowd.
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For Russell, the gold was reward for hours of practice spent leaning for the line. “I knew it was going to come down to a dive,” the 24-year-old American said. “I didn’t see anybody, I was just leaning. And I outleaned her by a 100th of a second. I knew it was going to come down to that. So the fact that I was that close between a gold and a silver — I’m glad I did. I take a lot of pride on my last five hurdles — I know a lot of people can’t compete with me on the back end. Me and my coach have practiced that all the time — so it ended up paying off.”
Russell said she had been determined to be a part of the USA gold medal rush at these Olympics after seeing so many of her team-mates enjoy success this week. “Honestly seeing everyone else on Team USA do their thing I was like ‘Yeah, I need to get a taste of that’,” said Russell, who qualified for last year’s World Championships in Budapest but failed to make the final. “Last year in Budapest I didn’t make it through the semi-finals, I fell — but I always knew I had the talent,” she said.
Russell led a powerful US contingent into Saturday’s final alongside compatriots Alaysha Johnson and US collegiate champion Grace Stark. But Johnson’s challenge faltered after she clipped a hurdle mid-race, leaving a three-way battle for gold with Russell, Samba-Mayela, and Camacho-Quinn.
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