Olympic champion Gabby Thomas will miss this month’s World Athletics Championships with an achilles tendon injury she’s been dealing with since May.
Thomas, who won the 200m in Paris and was on the 4x100m and 4x400m gold-medal relay teams, said she exacerbated the injury in July.
“I understand that it will be disappointing for some track fans to hear this news, but I’ve finally come to the realization that it’s OK to be human and take care of myself,” Thomas said in a press release on Tuesday. “As an athlete you always want to keep grinding, but sometimes you simply can’t outwork an injury. Sometimes it’s about patience and making the right decision for the long term. All the best to my Team USA teammates fighting for medals in Tokyo.”
Thomas was far from her best last month at the US nationals, where she rallied to secure the third and final spot in the 200m by .001 seconds. The 28-year-old said she plans on competing in 2026.
In June, Thomas said she was verbally abused at a Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia.
Thomas said in a post on X that a man followed her around the track shouting insults while she was taking photographs with fans and signing autographs.
“Anybody who enables him online is gross,” wrote Thomas.
Thomas’s post was in response to another on X which contained a video of a person heckling Thomas while she was on the starting line, shouting “you’re a choke artist – you’re going down, Gabby”.
The world championships run from 13-21 September in Tokyo.
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