Nugent and Russell 100m hurdles rivalry to take centre stage at opening leg of Grand Slam Track in April 2025 in Jamaica
World’s fastest sprint hurdler in 2024, Ackera Nugent (12.24) and Olympic champion, Masai Russell (12.25) will begin what many athletics watchers think may be the biggest rivalry in the 100m hurdles at the opening leg of the Grand Slam Track, the new global home of professional track competition, in April 2025 at the National stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
Organisers of the event launched earlier this year by four-time US Olympic Champion Michael Johnson announced Monday that the opening leg of the four-leg event will start in April and with Nugent and Russell already confirmed for the event as racers, a new rivalry is set to start between the two exciting sprint hurdlers in the world in 2024.
Nugent ran a 12.24 lifetime best and world lead on her way to winning the Golden Gala Diamond League meeting in Rome, Italy at the end of August to prove her disappointing outing at the Paris Olympics earlier that month was just by happenstance.
Russell raced to her first ever global title in Paris with the Olympic title after showing signs as the one to beat just over a month earlier when she scorched to a 12.25 finish to win the US Olympic trials.
Nugent holds an 11-5 head to head record over the American who however raced home with the biggest title of 2024.
With the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan the biggest prize in 2025, the Grand Slam Track will try to shape what to expect later in 2025.
The Grand Slam Track 100m hurdles stage will not be for just the duo of Nugent and Russell but also for the two others confirmed as racers while the challengers will also have a say in who gets crowned as the champion of the event.
Former Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn who has proved she still has what it takes to dominate the high hurdles stage and former World indoor 60m hurdles champion, Cyrena Samba-Mayela are also in the mix while reigning world record holder in the event, Tobi Amusan may come in as one of the challengers.
Kingston joins Los Angeles as the second city confirmed as a Slam host for the upcoming season, with two more locations to be announced later this week.
