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Debate

Gabby Thomas's debut has everyone talking—Is she the future of American track and field?

The 2024 season has been nothing but incredible for Gabby Thomas. However, her most recent stint at the French capital rightfully turned heads. But it has left track and field fans reeling, and they want more. Luckily, the sprinter is the headliner for Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos NYC 2024. The inaugural event takes place at the Icahn Stadium in New York City on September 26. Quite exciting, isn’t it? But before the 27-year-old steps onto the track, she’s already received high praise from track and field legends. 

On a September 25th episode of the ‘Ready Set Go’ podcast, Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green discuss which athlete deserves the clutch and MVP award as the season comes to an end. While talking about everything that’s happened so far, it’s obvious that the Olympian’s name came up. “Gabby stepped to the plate, and you can watch Gabby set her campaign up for the season and like clockwork, you know?” the former sprinter said. 

Gatlin continued, “We watched her at Texas relays run the 200 and the 100.” The 27-year-old contested in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m at the Texas Relays. She represented New Balance and clinched the women’s 100m invitational title with a blistering 10.88 seconds. Celera Barnes trailed behind her in 11.00 seconds, while Tamara Clark seized third place with 11.03 seconds on the clock. However, Thomas went ahead and claimed the 200m title with 22.08 seconds. Tamara Clark came in second with 22.21 seconds, and Lynna Irby-Jackson completed the podium in 22.70 seconds.

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The track and field legend added, “Then we watched her at World relays run the 4×100 and the 4×400. Like literally run the 4×400, leave the track, go back to the warm barrier, come back out with the 4×400 team, go run the 4×4, and she has two World relay medals on at the same time with American flag all with under 40 minutes, right?” In the 4x100m relay, the quartet of Gabby Thomas, Tamari Davis, Celera Barnes, and Melissa Jefferson scorched to the finish line in a championship record time of 41.85 seconds.

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Gabby Thomas then moved on to the 4x400m relay. Along with Quanera Hayes, Bailey Lear, and Alexis Holmes, they clinched another win with a then world-leading time of 3:21:70. “So that’s very impressive to start the season off with, and then going out there, having a really good season, and then everything she set up fell right into place when it came to the Olympics, right?” Gatlin stated. The 27-year-old walked away with 3 Olympic golds in the 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m. So, it was obvious she received an honorable mention. But she isn’t done yet. The Olympian still has one more event to participate in. What is it?

Athlos NYC is on Gabby Thomas’ radar

As the dust settled on her incredible stint at the French capital, the 27-year-old still seemed to be basking in her glory. The Olympian shared a few snaps from her mini vacation after the Summer Games. She celebrated her 2024 campaign by taking some much-needed downtime. In the images, she showed off her four-legged companion, training snaps, an Olympic-themed diamond ring, and more. Still, she looked ready to unwind. 

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Gabby Thomas's debut has everyone talking—Is she the future of American track and field?

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The Athlos NYC meet is right around the corner, and Thomas was one of the first people to jump in on the event. Ohanian decided to drop a subtle reminder in the comment section. “One more race to go……….,” he stated. We don’t blame him for ensuring the biggest star of his female-only track and field event is ready to draw the curtains on this season with a bang.

However, Gabby Thomas isn’t the only one gracing the tracks. The 100m hurdles Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell will contest in the event too. Faith Kipyegon is also looking forward to another gold to her stellar medal collection. Marileidy Paulino, Annie Tagoe, and Alexis Holmes also joined this stellar lineup.

In a September 23 video from the official Instagram account of the event, the 27-year-old marvels over what her experience feels like so far. “Being deemed one of the fastest women in the planet is very surreal, it’s certainly not something I ever imagined for myself.” However, she also gave the event a much-needed shoutout. “Athlos definitely feels like an event where we, as female athletes, have some ownership. We have some say.” Are you excited to watch what the last race of her stellar season looks like?

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