"I never said that I was perfect" - Gabby Thomas gets honest after earning World Championship spot with close call

Gabby Thomas shared her honest opinion about her close call at the USATF Nationals. The Olympic champion sprinter managed to make it in the 200m event after outpacing Brittany Brown in an intense race.

The 28-year-old sprinter posted her thoughts on her X account (formerly Twitter) after the conclusion of the USATF Nationals. The 28-year-old Olympic champion sprinter reminded her followers that she never claimed to be the perfect athlete. Thomas wrote on her X account:

"I never said that I was perfect, I never said I didn’t have any flaws."

Both Thomas and Brown clocked 22.20 seconds, but the former outpaced Brown by one-thousandth of a second.

Thomas' best performance this year was at the Miami leg of the Grand Slam Track League. The 28-year-old sprinter clocked a seasonal best time of 21.95 seconds in the 200m event.

At the Budapest edition of the 2023 World Championships, Gabby Thomas won an individual silver medal in the 200m event and contributed to the gold medal won by Team USA in the women's 4x100m relay event.

Gabby Thomas opens up about her Achilles injury

Gabby Thomas at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships - [Image Source: Getty]

Gabby Thomas barely managed to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo World Championships. The 28-year-old sprinter talked about the Achilles injury that had been bothering her for a while. The injury also impacted her performance in the 200m event at the USATF Nationals.

In her conversation after the race, Thomas said:

"I haven't been able to train too much, which is it's kind of tough because I'm dealing with an Achilles issue. And so, you know, when you have to take a couple of weeks off before USATF, that's never a good feeling."

The Olympic champion withdrew from the 100m event despite qualifying for the semifinals to focus better on the 200m event. The 28-year-old sprinter added:

"It's something that's been going on like on and off, throughout the season. And about two weeks ago, I couldn't even jog on that foot. So, but it's not something I wanted to give too much life to, right? I had a big meet coming up that being USA's and I don't want to focus on it. So, I just I took a week off of training last week, geared back up, got ready."

Gabby Thomas was brilliant at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning gold medals in women's 200m, women's 4x100m relay and the women's 4x400m relay events.

About the author

Animesh Pandey is a seasoned content writer at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience, having previously worked as an intern for Follow Your Sport before joining SK as a columnist in 2017. A graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, he also worked at TFI Media Private Limited and contributed as an intern for the movie website Nettv4u.

He has extensively covered events from World Championships to the Olympics, providing insights and analyses that resonate with his audience. His belief in mastering the basics and delivering accurate, relevant, and ethical information through thorough research is reflected in his work.

He was notably invited to the National Sports and Adventure Awards 2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan after winning a MyGov quiz on Indian Sports, where he engaged with celebrated athletes such as Rahi Sarnobat, Hima Das, Jinson Johnson, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, and Subedar Neeraj Chopra, who also happens to be his favorite Olympian.

Despite being a field hockey enthusiast, Animesh's most cherished Olympic moments include Wayde Van Niekerk's unexpected world record in the 400 meters at Rio and Chopra's historic gold medal in Tokyo.

When not immersed in writing or watching the Olympics, Animesh indulges in his love for movies, embracing quality cinema regardless of the language.

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Edited by Krutik Jain