Gabby Thomas raves over Ilona Maher's appearance at SI Swimsuit's 60th anniversary event in Los Angeles

By Abhiruchi Rout

Modified Nov 15, 2024 19:48 GMT

Gabby Thomas recently expressed her admiration at Ilona Maher gracing the SI Swimsuit’s 60th anniversary event in Los Angeles. Maher attended the event after making her debut as the cover star of SI Swimsuit's digital issue for the month of September this year.

Her cover debut for the SI Swimsuit digital issue came after her remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics, where she played a crucial role in the USA’s bronze medal victory in the rugby sevens event.

Recently, at the 60th anniversary of the SI Swimsuit issue, Maher graced the event in an elegant off-shoulder black mini dress. Following her appearance, she took to Instagram to share pictures of herself against a backdrop featuring images of women who previously were a part of the issue's cover. While celebrating the beauty of these women, Ilona Maher wrote:

“Checkin out all the gorgeous women who came before and so excited for all who will come after @si_swimsuit.”

Three-time Paris Olympics gold medalist Gabby Thomas reacted to Maher’s post, expressing admiration for the rugby star’s appearance in the comments, writing:

“Yeeesssss 🔥”

Screenshot of Thomas’ comment on Maher’s Instagram post. Credits: IG/ ilonamaher

Notably, following her success at the Paris Olympics, Maher is currently entered as a contestant on the 33rd season of Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). Partnered with Alan Bersten, the duo has enjoyed a strong run, reaching the semi-finals. Bersten also attended the red carpet event for SI Swimsuit's 60th anniversary to support his dance partner.

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Gabby Thomas and Ilona Maher’s collaboration before the Paris Olympics 2024

Ilona Maher at Paris Olympics 2024 (Photo by Alex Ho/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, Gabby Thomas and Ilona Maher participated in a unique collaboration between track and field and rugby. In a video shared by Team USA on Instagram, Thomas was seen holding a rugby ball and passing it to Maher like a baton exchange in a relay race.

As the video progresses, Thomas said:

“Ready..Lock In..Stick”

However, Maher humorously expressed her dissatisfaction with the way the exchange went, telling Thomas:

“Gabby, I need you to do better.”

As the two re-enact the exchange, this time Ilona Maher pretends to throw the ball angrily, once again showing her displeasure with Thomas' pass, which makes the video even more hilarious.

Take a look at the video here -

Just like Maher, Gabby Thomas had an impressive show at the quadrennial games, winning three gold medals in the 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay events respectively. With this, she brought her total Olympic medal count to 5, having previously won a silver in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics.