Gabby Thomas picked up third place in the women’s 200-meter race during the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon this past weekend.
Thomas, formerly of Florence and a former star for the Williston Northampton Wildcats, fell to first-place winner Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Anavia Battle, who grabbed second.
The three-time gold medalist during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games crossed the finish line of Sunday’s 200 final in 22.20 seconds, which trailed Jefferson-Wooden’s time (21.84) by less than a second.
Thomas’ third-place finish was good enough to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
Thomas told reporters after the race about a nagging injury that impacted her training ahead of the U.S. Nationals meet.
“Truthfully, I haven’t been able to train too much, which is kind of tough, because I’m dealing with an Achilles issue,” Thomas said. “So, when you have to take a couple of weeks off before USAs, that’s never a good feeling.
“It’s something that’s been going on, on and off, the whole season,” Thomas added. “About two weeks ago, I couldn’t even jog on that foot.”
Thomas was originally scheduled to compete in the 100 as well, but decided against it to focus solely on one race.
MacLean snags top-five in 1500
Heather MacLean, a former UMass Minutewomen, took fourth place in the women’s 1,500 race at the U.S. Nationals meet.
MacLean concluded the race in 4:05.60, which trailed first-place finisher Nikki Hiltz’s time (4:03.15) by about two seconds.
A 2019 UMass graduate, MacLean holds the outdoor program record in the 1,500 with a 4:19.19, that was set during the 2017 season.
