Gabby Thomas came onto the global stage at last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, winning a bronze medal in the 200 meters and silver as a member of the 4×100 relay team. This Saturday, she’ll be running the 60-meter dash at Millrose Games. Thomas has competed at Millrose before, running the 400 meters in 2019.
“I ran my first 400 meters ever,” said Thomas, who acknowledged that she didn’t run a great race. “But I’m excited to come back, and I’m excited to run Millrose because I’m itching to get competing and to start indoor. I think it will be a really great meet for me because I’m doing the 60-meter dash and I’m looking to improve on my 100-meter race this season.
“I didn’t get a lot of opportunities to race last season in the 100,” she added. “This will be a good opportunity for me to kind of perfect a lot of things I’ve been working on this fall and do it against some really elite competition.”
Thomas knows Millrose Games has always been a great atmosphere for track and field and the athletes are treated like rockstars. The energy from the fans is tremendous.
“Everyone in there loves track and field; even the athletes are all very excited and feeling ready to run because it’s one of the earlier meets,” Thomas said. “We’re all excited to get out there and get our spikes on.”
It’s been a time of new experiences for Thomas, who has enjoyed a variety of opportunities following her Olympic successes. She said it was a bit of a challenge coming off the high of the Olympic season, which went from the Olympic trials in June to one post-Olympic track meet, so she took some time off to reset.
“Then I came back after about six or seven weeks and I knew what I wanted to work on,” she said. “I knew exactly what I was capable of and I knew some things I wanted to tune up, mainly my 100-meter race—working on a couple of things, like my start. That’s why this 60-meter dash is going to be such a perfect opportunity for me to see where I’m at, see what I’ve accomplished in the fall training season and see what’s working and what’s not working and adjust accordingly for the rest of the season.”