When Elaine Thompson-Herah returned to competition in 2026, fans were eager to watch how she’d perform after a massive layoff. After spending nearly two years away from the track because of an Achilles injury, the five-time Olympic champion was simply trying to find her rhythm again and see how her body would respond.
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That made the 2026 season different from anything Thompson-Herah had experienced before. She had gone from dominating the Olympic sprints in Rio and Tokyo to missing the Paris Games altogether, leaving her with no choice but to take her comeback one race at a time. Now, with the season winding down, Thompson-Herah has looked back on the journey and made it clear that, whatever the results, she has no regrets about the road back.
“Reflection of this season and it owes me nothing,” she wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Success is 98% mindset, 1% talent and 1% luck. Positivity is a key to remaining calm in all the challenges, big or small. It will not only keep us happy and smiling, but also keep us away from the negative people and thoughts that can de-motivate us in all ways.”
“When you start to walk against the direction of the wind, the whole world will see you crazy at first and will talk negative on your back. Kill the buzz, stay focused, trust yourself, remain positive and keep doing what you’re willing to do. Everything is possible if you really want to do it,” she wrote.
The road back had been a long one. Thompson-Herah’s Achilles injury kept her out for much of 2024 and all of 2025, with the timing of the setback ultimately forcing her to miss the Paris Olympics. Before returning to competition this year, her last international appearance had come at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
It felt like the end of an era, given how dominant she was when she was at the top. She had won the Olympic 100m and 200m titles at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, becoming the first woman to complete the sprint double at consecutive Olympic Games.
Then came the number that cemented her place among the fastest ever. In 2021, she ran 10.54 seconds in Eugene, the second-fastest women’s 100m time in history behind Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 world record.
That made the early stages of her comeback less about chasing fast times and more about finding her footing again. Thompson-Herah eased back into competition, racing over 60m and 200m in February and March before returning to the 100m at Velocity Fest in April, where she clocked 10.92 seconds. It was a promising start, but she was careful not to read too much into the result.
For Thompson-Herah, the priority was simply getting through the season without rushing the process.
“This season is a stepping stone… a recovery, a fun one,” she said in May. “I’m not rushing anything, not applying pressure.”
The biggest test of that approach came at the World Athletics Relays, where Thompson-Herah returned to the global stage as part of Jamaica’s gold-medal-winning 4x100m team. She anchored the team to victory in 42.00 seconds, but the race was not without its concerns. Thompson-Herah felt her leg grow heavy in the straight before holding her composure to get Jamaica across the line.
Elaine Thompson-Herah had to trust the process
The comeback had taken a toll beyond the physical. Thompson-Herah admitted that returning after such a long absence had been challenging both mentally and physically, but she leaned on self-belief, faith and the people around her. She was also determined to handle the process in her own way.
“I’ve never been to therapy or whatever that thing is. I don’t believe in it because I’m my own therapy,” she said, while emphasizing her belief in God and the support of her team.
Then came a result that suggested the hard work was beginning to pay off. In June, Thompson-Herah won in Zagreb in 10.91 seconds, breaking the meeting record and recording her fastest 100m time since 2021. After everything she had been through, the performance offered a reminder that the speed that once made her an Olympic champion had not disappeared. Yet Thompson-Herah refused to let one race rewrite the bigger picture.
“I don’t think I’m where I want to be yet,” she said. “I’m being patient with myself… Once the pain is gone, Elaine is capable of doing anything.”
Thompson-Herah now has a full season of competition behind her, having returned to the 100m, helped Jamaica win World Relays gold and posted her fastest time in the event since 2021 in Zagreb. For someone who had spent nearly two years away from the track, simply getting through a full season has given her a foundation to build on.
What comes next will be more demanding. The 2027 World Championships in Beijing will be her next major test, with Los Angeles 2028 waiting further down the road.