Gabrielle Thomas

Gabrielle Thomas
Gabrielle Lisa Thomas (born December 7, 1996) is an American track and field athlete in 100 and 200 meter sprint. She won the bronze medal in the 200 m and a silver as part of the women's 4 × 100 m relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. On August 25, 2023, she claimed the 200m silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest with a time of 21.81 seconds. She would also go on to win gold as part of Team USA in the women's 4x100m relay final with a championship record of 41.03 seconds.
Early life and background
Thomas was born December 7, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia to African American mother Jennifer Randall and Jamaican father Desmond Thomas. She has a twin brother named Andrew. In 2007, Randall moved the family to Massachusetts to teach at the University of Massachusetts after completing her PhD at Emory University. While the family settled in Florence, Thomas initially played softball and soccer, then joined the track and field team at the Williston Northampton School. She was inspired to run by Allyson Felix, stating that her first memory of a track race was watching Felix while at her grandmother's house. In four years at her high school, Thomas set multiple school records and was MVP every year.
A graduate of Harvard University, she studied neurobiology and global health as an undergraduate. Thomas was later pursuing a master's degree in epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston at their Austin regional campus.
Career
While at Harvard, Thomas won 22 conference titles across her three years of athletics in six different events, setting the school and Ivy League records in the 100 meters, 200 meters and the indoor 60 meters. She signed a contract with New Balance and turned pro in October 2018, forgoing her last year of collegiate eligibility.
After Harvard, she moved to Austin, Texas to be coached by Tonja Buford-Bailey. In May 2020, Thomas was provisionally suspended for three whereabouts failures, sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility. She submitted new evidence in June to invalidate one failure, and was finally cleared in July.
2021
Thomas experienced a health scare in 2021 when an MRI revealed a tumor on her liver, but it turned out to be benign. She represented the United States in the 200 meter race at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her time of 21.61 seconds at the United States Olympic trials on June 26, 2021, was the second-fastest ever at the time, surpassed only by world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner. The time even surprised Thomas herself; after the race, she said "It definitely changed how I view myself as a runner. I am still in shock... my dream was to make the Olympic team... Now that I've accomplished [that], I'm going to set higher goals." On August 3, 2021 in the Olympic final, Thomas won a bronze medal, running with a time of 21.87 s, behind Elaine Thompson-Herah (gold) and Christine Mboma (silver). Three days later, the U.S. team having qualified for the finals of the 4 x 100 m relay, Thomas ran anchor, and the team came in second place behind the Jamaican team, securing her the silver medal along with teammates Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, and Jenna Prandini.
2022
In March, Thomas came up with a good start to her outdoor season at the Texas Relays in Austin, with the fastest ever season opener by any 200 m female sprinter. She achieved the quickest wind-assisted mark of all time at 21.69 seconds (+3.1 m/s). She ran winning 10.92 s in the 100 m just 45 minutes earlier. Thomas missed the qualifying for the home World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July as she tore her hamstring just weeks before the USATF Championships held in June and only finished eighth in the 200 m final.
2023–present
On April 29 at the Texas Invitational in Austin, Thomas turned in a massive personal record in the 400 m with a time of 49.68 s (her previous PR was 51.15 s from May 2021). On July 9, 2023, Thomas became the US national champion for the women's 200m sprint. On August 25, 2023, she claimed the silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in 21.81 seconds. She finished ahead of USA teammate Sha'Carri Richardson (21.92), and behind defending women's 200m world champion Shericka Jackson (21:41 CR). She would also go on to win gold as part of Team USA in the women's 4x100m relay final with a championship record of 41.03 seconds. Her teammates in this event were Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, and Sha'Carri Richardson.
Achievements
International competitions
National championships
Circuit wins
Diamond League
2018 (200 m): Lausanne Athletissima
2019 (200 m): Lausanne
References
External links
Living people
American female sprinters
African-American female track and field athletes
Harvard University alumni
University of Texas at Austin alumni
1996 births
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field)
Track and field athletes from Massachusetts
Sportspeople from Northampton, Massachusetts
American sportspeople of Jamaican descent
Track and field athletes from Atlanta
Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field
Harvard Crimson women's track and field athletes
Olympic female sprinters
21st-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American women
World Athletics Championships winners