Two of track and field’s most imposing world records fell less than 40 minutes apart Thursday night—and an American Olympic champion delivered the second history-making run.
Masai Russell stormed through the women’s 100-meter hurdles in 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League, breaking Tobi Amusan’s four-year-old world record. Earlier in the same meet, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos ran 45.80 in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, taking down the celebrated mark Karsten Warholm set at the Tokyo Olympics.
It was the kind of night that turns a regular stop on the athletics calendar into an instant landmark: two different hurdle races, two different champions and two clocks showing numbers the sport had never seen before.
Russell erased the women’s 100-meter hurdles record
Russell, the reigning Olympic champion from the United States, ran 12.09 seconds to shave 0.03 from the previous world record. Nigeria’s Amusan had owned the mark since clocking 12.12 in the semifinals of the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon.
According to the Associated Press, Russell started quickly, stayed in control and pulled away over the final hurdle. She later said hearing that dos Santos had already broken a world record helped sharpen her focus because she knew the track was producing something special.
The result added a world record to a résumé that already included Olympic gold. It also changed the historical standard in an event where hundredths of a second separate great performances from permanent places in the record book.
Dos Santos finally moved past Warholm
Dos Santos opened the record-breaking sequence with a 45.80-second performance in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. That lowered Warholm’s previous record of 45.94, set during the unforgettable Olympic final in Tokyo in 2021.
Warholm was in the Zurich race and finished second in 46.69. Dos Santos accelerated decisively off the final bend and powered away down the home straight, according to Reuters.
The moment completed a striking reversal from Tokyo. Dos Santos ran 46.72 in that 2021 Olympic final—an extraordinary time that was still only good enough for bronze behind Warholm and American Rai Benjamin. Five years later, the Brazilian became the fastest man ever in the event.
The 26-year-old entered Zurich as the 2022 world champion, the 2025 world silver medalist and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist. Thursday’s victory also extended his recent unbeaten run against Warholm to five races.
How rare was this double?
World records are uncommon even at the sport’s premier meets. Having two fall in separate hurdle events within roughly 40 minutes made Zurich exceptional. World Athletics described the competition as an unforgettable night.
The achievements were different in character. Russell cut three hundredths from a short sprint record where every movement over 10 barriers must be nearly flawless. Dos Santos removed 0.14 seconds from a one-lap record that had come from one of the most celebrated Olympic races ever staged.
Together, the performances also demonstrated how quickly momentum can travel through a meet. Dos Santos supplied the first shock; Russell said she drew motivation from knowing history had already been made on the same track.
The rest of Zurich was nearly as fast
The two world records led a deep collection of standout performances.
Swiss runner Audrey Werro won the women’s 800 meters in 1:53.70, finishing only 0.42 seconds outside Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1983 world record—the oldest outdoor world record in the books. Femke Broeders-Bol was second in a personal-best 1:54.71.
Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred won the women’s 100 meters in a national-record 10.70, matching American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s time before the result was decided by photo finish. American Kenny Bednarek produced a world-leading 19.62 in the men’s 200 meters, while Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi ran a world-leading 1:41.76 in the men’s 800.
Mondo Duplantis won the pole vault at 6.25 meters. Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis cleared a national-record 6.20, then joined Duplantis in attempting 6.32, though neither cleared the world-record height.
Two new standards now await the next generation
Track records are ultimately targets. Warholm’s 45.94 and Amusan’s 12.12 once represented the edge of possibility; after one extraordinary evening in Zurich, the new numbers are 45.80 and 12.09.
Russell and dos Santos did more than win their races. They changed what every hurdler chasing them will now have to beat.
Sources: World Athletics, Reuters, The Associated Press and ESPN.
