The 2001 season held significant career highs and lows for the athlete. She started the year by taking her third U.S. Indoor title in the long jump. She was chosen to compete at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. Burrell gave the greatest performance of her career with a jump of 7.03 m – her first time over the seven-meter mark. This was enough to win the gold medal some five centimeters ahead of the defending champion, Russian athlete Tatyana Kotova. The jump brought Burrell into the top ten long jumpers on the all-time indoor lists and made her the second best American indoors, behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She began preparing for the outdoor season, but suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to her knee in April which ruled her out for the entire season. The injury effectively ended her career as she competed sparingly thereafter but never again won a national title.