"2023 was my comeback season and it was exactly that" - Gabby Thomas reflects on her season, sets eye on "big" Olympic year
Gabby Thomas recently looked back at her performances in the 2023 season with absolute contentment. The 26-year-old termed it her "comeback season" after suffering a hamstring injury in 2022. Moreover, the athlete hinted at preparing herself for the highly-awaited Paris Olympics next year.
After winning the bronze medal in 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Gabby Thomas set her eyes on the gold medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. However, weeks before the US Track and Field Championships, she experienced a devastating hamstring injury. As a result, the American was not included in the US Team that went for the world championship last year.
In the 2023 season, the Olympics bronze-medallist picked up from where she left off, winning the US national championship by clocking 21.60s in the 200m race.
With that timing, she became the third fastest woman in history in the 200m race. Also, in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, she won the gold medal in the 4x100m relay race and silver in the 200m race.
Gabby Thomas will be next seen competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Looking back at her journey, Thomas recently shared a few pictures of herself from this year’s world championships.
“I love track & field!!! ❤️💙❤️💙 2023 was my ~comeback season~ and it was exactly that 👏🏽” Thomas wrote on Instagram.
She added:
"If you followed my season, you saw some lows, but you also saw my highs. So grateful for my team and continued improvement…truly feeling like the sky is the limit for me. Time to rest up for a bit…I heard next year is a big year 😜"
Gabby Thomas expresses disappointment with the lack of prize money in track and field
Last month, Gabby Thomas highlighted the disparity in the prize money between track and field and other sports on her X (formerly known as Twitter) account.
The discussion started when a user shared the prize money format in tennis. After coming across the post, Thomas responded:
“In track & field if you lose a meet, you go home with debt 😂."
A curious fan asked the athlete to elaborate on her statement, to which Thomas replied:
"For a lot of athletes you have to pay for your own travel to meets, and if you lose, you don’t make enough money to cover the travel expenses :/ factor in coach travel too."