The 27-year-old took home silver in the 4×100-meter relay and bronze in the 200-meter event in Tokyo 2020, but he has since vaulted to the top of the podium by outrunning American Brittany Brown and Saint Lucian Julien Alfred in a time of 21.83 seconds.
Before the match, supporters in the Stade de France participated in an amazing light display that lit up the entire stadium as they waved the LED bracelets they had been given before entering the stands.
Nothing, though, glowed more brilliantly than Thomas, as she won handily and inscribed her name in the annals of history.
One race ended shockingly, while the other ended with sheer dominance.
Tuesday night, American Cole Hocker shocked the odds at the Olympic track competition by defeating favourites Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigsten to win the gold medal in the 1,500 metres.
Shortly afterward, American Gabby Thomas won gold in the women’s 200 metres, clocking in at 21.83 seconds to add to her bronze from the Tokyo tournament three years prior.
Hocker broke his personal best by more than three seconds and set an American record in the 1,500 metres, finishing in an Olympic record of 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds. During the last 300 metres, he went from seventh to first.
He won by a mere.14 seconds over Kerr, and Ingebrigsten, who had led the first 1,200 metres, finished fourth in a time that was quicker than his Tokyo Olympic record.
Yared Nuguse, an American, won the bronze after setting a new personal record.
Since Matt Centrowitz won gold in the metric mile in 2016, it was the first American victory in the event. Since the 1912 Stockholm Games, this is the first time Americans have placed two men on the 1,500-meter podium.
With Ingebrigtsen leading going into the final 200 metres, the race was expected to be a confrontation between him and Kerr.
In this, Ingebrigtsen surged to the lead and maintained it for the first three and a half laps, while Kerr alternated between second and third, preparing for his usual windup and perhaps a last-ditch slingshot past Ingebrigtsen.
Hocker, who stands 5 feet 9 1/2 inches shorter than the top two competitors, virtually gave the impression that he was trying to take a picture of the race’s finish while it was happening.
With a look of incredulity on his face, he crossed the queue first, his arms outstretched. He had attempted sneaking up on the inside once before, but Ingebrigtsen had blocked it.
For this race, Hocker, a 23-year-old University of Oregon alum, was as much as a 30-1 long shot.
Thomas got off to a fast start in the women’s 200, took the lead at the curve, and had no opposition in the last lap.
After winning, the 27-year-old Harvard graduate with a master’s degree in public health grabbed her head with both hands.
Thomas won by 0.25 seconds over the 100-meter champion Julien Alfred, with Brittany Brown of the United States taking third.
Particularly when Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the current world champion, withdrew due to an alleged injury, Thomas came in as the favourite.
The Americans have won two gold medals from the three sprint events held on the purple track at Stade de France thus far. Thomas finished first on the podium in the men’s 100, just behind Noah Lyles.
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