Gabby Thomas drops 2-word reaction on Masai Russell triumphing at USATF Indoor Championships

By Zahid Rashid Dar

Modified Feb 23, 2025 11:10 GMT

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Gabby Thomas expressed her thoughts as Masai Russell won the maiden indoor national title at the 2025 Championships. The 100m hurdles Olympic champion clocked the fastest time in the world and a new personal best to win the 60m hurdles title.

Russell opened her season at the Texas Tech Corky Classic last month, starting with a 7.89s in the 60m hurdles. She was undefeated and has now clocked a new lifetime best of 7.74s for her first indoor national title, beating Grace Stark and Christina Clemons, who finished second and third, respectively.

The 24-year-old's joy had no bounds as she wrote on her X (formerly Twitter) handle:

"US INDOOR CHAMP🥳."

Five-time Olympic medalist Gabby Thomas was proud of Russell's achievement and wrote:

"prada youuu!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽"

While Thomas is yet to start her season, and won't compete at the Indoor Championships, Russell revealed she won't be competing at the next month's World Indoor Championships. The 24-year-old said she wanted to focus on the outdoor championships later in the year.

"No running Indoors. Just because it's very close to the outdoor season you know. I'm a professional now and I'm not in a rush to just go back and forth from competition to competition. For me, be it personally, be it mentally, I like to take a break before like setting it up again."

Both Thomas and Russell are signed for the inaugural edition of the Grand Slam Track, the first slam of which is scheduled for April 4-6 in Kingston, Jamaica.

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"This is the hardest I’ve ever worked" - Masai Russell not surprised by her dominance

Masai Russell at the 2025 USATF Indoor Championships - Source: Getty

Masai Russell has strung together a dominant run since her narrow loss at the 2024 World Indoor Championships. After starting the season with a win at the Texas Corky Classic, Russell won the first professional race of her career at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in 7.80s.

The 24-year-old closed on her personal best at the Milrose Games, running 7.76s for the win before eventually breaking it at the Indoor Championships. Weighing in on her dominance following the Milrose Games, Russell said:

It just felt like as it should be. Like, that's the best way that I could put it you know. I've just been working so hard. This is the hardest I’ve ever worked, so to finally see the dominance, and me just stepping into who I know I am consistently so yeah, I’m just happy with it. It’s how it should be,” Masai Russell told Citius Mag.

She finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships last year, missing the podium by just 0.02 seconds. She would later term it instrumental in helping her win the gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics.