Ex-UK star Masai Russell is headed to the Summer Olympics. How will she do in Paris?

Masai Russell had a simple message for herself. The past didn’t matter. Neither did the future. The only thing that mattered what was happening right then at the 100-meter hurdle finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials at Eugene, Oregon, last Sunday night.

“It’s a clean slate when you come to the (starting) line,” the former University of Kentucky track star said Wednesday during a press conference at the Jim Green Track and Field Center. “It matters now, because this is the determinant moment.”

And then Russell went out and wrote a new number on that slate. She not only earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team by winning the trials with a world-leading time of 12.25 seconds, but she broke Gail Devers’ 24-year-old trials record of :12.33 in the process.

“I don’t think it has been given the just reward it is,” said UK coach Lonnie Greene on Wednesday. “This is the fourth-fastest time in history. Only three women have run faster in the history of the sport.”

“I was super, super elated and happy. It was very emotional,” said Russell, who will continue on to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which begin July 26 and run through Aug. 11.

She will be joined by her training partner and volunteer UK assistant coach Devynne Charlton, the former Purdue star who will be a member of the Bahamas team.

Also there will be former UK star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set a 400-meter hurdles world record of :50.65 at the trials. It’s the fifth time McLaughlin-Levrone has set the world record.

Meanwhile, UK senior high jumper Charity Hufnagel placed first in the Olympic Trials by clearing the bar at 6-foot and 4.25 inches (1.94 meters). The Rushville, Indiana, native did not meet the Olympic standard to participate in the Games, but Hufnagel could still get there, depending on how the world rankings shake out between now and July 7.

“I’m just kind of playing it chill,” Hufnagel said Wednesday. “I’m going to continue, have fun with it and be thankful that I possibly have the opportunity of going.”

What put Russell in her position? It’s not as if she came out of nowhere. She has 304,000 followers on Instagram. The Potomac, Maryland, native was a multiple-time SEC champion during her UK career (2019-2023). She broke the collegiate record in the 60-meter hurdles and 100-meter hurdles.

Russell’s previous best was :12.36, however. She said Wednesday she was running :12.8 a month ago. So how did everything come together for the 24-year-old at exactly the right time against a packed field to win her first national title?

“The way I was thinking about it was you can have the worst season of your life and make the team, you can have the best season of your life and make the team,” Russell said. “We were just working really hard in practice. I literally train with a world record holder. We just continued to push each other like we’ve been doing for the past five years.”

That would be the 28-year-old Charlton, who won her seventh 100-meter hurdles title with a time of :12.62 at the Bahamian Olympic Trials. This will be her second Olympics. Charlton, who has been with UK since Russell’s sophomore season, placed sixth in the 2021 Tokyo Games.

“I get more nervous for (Russell’s) races than my own,” Charlton said. “When she crossed the line (Sunday), I cried a little bit, too.”

“I started here when I was 18 and to see the transformation that I’ve made means everything,” Russell said. “That I won the Trials and broke the record speaks to the standard that Kentucky has set.”

What is the secret to UK’s success?

“For me, I think it’s been consistency,” Russell said. “I’ve been doing the same workout with Coach Greene and Devynne since my freshman and sophomore year. Coach Greene is a very consistent coach. That’s what I tell everybody. Nothing has truly changed. It’s just about the mentality and getting stronger and nitpicking certain things.”

“If you know what you’re doing and you know that it’s working, why change that,” Greene said. “We don’t run after new fads.”

And how does Russell expect to run in Paris?

“I think I can go faster,” she said.

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