On the second Tuesday of the 2024 , American runner Gabrielle “Gabby” Thomas became a maiden gold medal winner with a decisive victory in the women’s 200-meter sprint. She held off St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred—who had won the 100-meter final a few days earlier—and another American, Brittany Brown, who finished third.
To those in Paris’s Stade de France, and to the millions more watching on livestreams, there was a magnetism in Thomas’s stage and screen presence. In her star-affirming dash, she retained a preternatural cool more often associated with red carpets than race tracks. To use a very online term: Thomas has serious aura.
Born in Atlanta, raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, and now based in Austin, Thomas, 27, had won bronze in the 200-meter three years ago in Tokyo (along with a silver in the 4 x 100-meter relay). She’s collected gold at the world championships, too, but her halcyon turn in Paris is the culmination of years of patience and dedication. That is to say: Thomas has long been a marquee figure in the sport—and she has an impressive resume outside of athletics, too, having earned her master’s degree in public health from Harvard—but she is now global name.
Below, and ahead of the next few days’ relay events, Thomas hops on the phone with to discuss what was—or wasn’t—going through her head during the race, a bit about her volunteer work in healthcare, and getting a surprise call from Snoop Dogg. I think it’s sinking in now. .