American Gabrielle Thomas storms to dominant victory in Olympic 200m final
Updated . First published at
PARIS: Gabrielle Thomas of the USA stormed to a dominant victory in the women's 200m final in Paris on Wednesday morning (AEST).
The Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist left her rivals in her wake and won Olympic gold in 21.38 seconds (-0.6 wind) at the Stade de France.
Julien Alfred, the St Lucia sprinter who won Olympic 100m gold this week, grabbed silver in 22.08 as the USA's Brittany Brown picked up bronze in 22.20.
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Thomas charged over the finish line and, with a look of astonishment, threw her hands on her head in front of a roaring crowd of some 75,000 people.
"I can't believe it. I am so excited," said the 27-year-old.
"I feel like all of my community, my friends and family have uplifted me, so this is for them, as well.
Gabrielle Thomas of the USA winning gold in the women's 200m at the Paris Olympics. Getty Images
"It's just unbelievable. You can't take a gold medal away, and this is all I wanted. If I didn't get this gold medal today, I don't know what I would have done, so I'm just so happy."
Thomas emerged off the bend in the lead and powered away to win her second global gold medal, but first individual.
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Gabrielle Thomas, the women's 200m gold medallist in Paris. Getty Images
She was a member of the 4x100m USA relay team that won gold at last year's world championships in Budapest.
"I don't think it could have gone any better," she said of the Olympic 200m final.
"My coach told me before I got out there that the only thing I need to do is get the lead ... then finish strong. I did that, and I couldn't tell you where my competitors were in that race because I blacked out, and when I crossed the line, that's the only thing I remember."
