Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. But for Gabby Thomas? Even when she doesn’t win, she makes noise. On April 4, she made her Grand Slam Track & Field debut and didn’t waste a second—literally. She blazed through the 100m, took first place, and picked up 12 points. First time running the 100m in the GST? Yeah, she made it look easy. But things got spicy on April 5 in the Jamaican capital of Kingston.

Then came the 200m on Friday—and once again, Gabby delivered. But then it was turn to move to 400m! While she didn’t take the win, she still delivered big. Gabby finished second in the race, but even that came with fireworks. She held off Olympic 400m champ Marileidy Paulino with a massive personal best of 49.14—chopping over half a second off her previous PR from 2019. The only one who crossed the line before her was Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, who flew to a jaw-dropping 48.67—the fastest 400m time ever recorded before the month of July.

Paulino came in third with a 49.35. It was a race for the ages. But Gabby Thomas, clearly overwhelmed, shared after, “I’m not sure I’ve ever been more tired in my life.. Going into that, I knew that was going to be one of the hardest races of my life, just because of the talent in the field.” She added, “..Jamiaca showed up tonight, tonight my family’s here but of course the whole island is my family at this point so this is a really great day,”clearly exhausted but proud. Even without the win, her energy said it all—she knew how far she’d pushed, and that meant something.

And if you thought the stakes were just pride, think again. This wasn’t just for bragging rights. Gabby came second—but still walked away with $ 100 K. You might be thinking, how? Second place usually means $50,000, right? But nope, not this time! And Gabby knew exactly how to play it smart. She crushed the 200m, grabbing 12 points for the win, then added 8 more with her runner-up finish in the 400m—bringing her total to 20, the highest in the Long Sprints group.

That score made her the Slam Champion, and with it came the six-figure payday. After the race, Gabby Thomas was still catching her breath when she opened up on the broadcast about winning this money, saying, “I heard them on the home stretch, hundred on the line. It really motivated me.” She may not have taken gold in every race, but when the dust settled, she took home the biggest prize of all. But at the same time, she wasn’t all alone, dominating.

Not just Gabby Thomas, others too brought the heat in Kingston

Think Gabby Thomas was the only one turning heads in Kingston? Not even close. Olympic 800m champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi decided to shake things up by stepping into the 1500m—and completely wrecked the field. We’re talking about a guy who usually dominates shorter stuff, but on Saturday, he kicked past all three Olympic medalists like it was no big deal. Cole Hocker? Passed. Josh Kerr? See ya. Yared Nuguse?

Gone in the final stretch. Wanyonyi clocked 3:35.18 and reminded everyone that he’s not just fast—he’s scary fast. Oh, and he used to hold the road mile world record. The 1500m crew gets a shot at revenge when they all line up for the 800m rematch on Sunday. Grab your popcorn.

And Kenny Bednarek? That man showed up with receipts. The two-time Olympic 200m silver medalist came to dominate—and delivered. He won the 100m on Friday, then doubled up with a 200m win in 20.07 on Saturday. “Came out here and said I wanted to dominate,” he said. “That’s what I did.” No arguments here. In the long sprints group, Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith pulled off a clutch win in the 200m after finishing second in the 400m. That combo gave him just enough points to edge out Chris Bailey and take home the $100K Slam title.

Oh—and we’ve got to talk about the hurdles. Dylan Beard, the guy who made headlines for balancing track life with a job at Walmart, is suddenly in the running for a six-figure check. He smoked the 110m hurdles in 13.29 and now just needs one more solid race. On the women’s side, Tia Jones came out of nowhere and took down not one, but two Olympic champs in the 100m hurdles. She crossed in 12.63, beating Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Masai Russell. This was just stop one—Miami’s up next in May.