Gabby Thomas’ Qutting Draws More Concerns For America As Another Sprinter Confirms Medical Update

The team for the Tokyo World Championships has been announced, and it’s a bittersweet moment for American track and field. To start with, earlier we got to know the 200m Olympics gold medalist Gabby Thomas is not going to Tokyo because of her injury. A potential 200m sprinter and useful legs in the relays. The gold in the 4x100m and 4x400m relay from Paris speaks for itself. And as if this setback was not enough, another American is now out of the team.

Let’s first take a look at the athletes who will now be representing the USA in women’s 100m: Sha’Carri Richardson (BYE), Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Kayla White, and TeeTee Terry. Surprised? Yes, this is quite different from the entrants that were finalised after the USATF Championships results. Back then, there was Melissa, of course, phenomenally clocking a time of 10.65 seconds to win the finals that day, while White was second at 10.84. They are still in the list. But things get interesting when you realize Terry, who had clocked 10.94s to finish 4th, is now in the team. Whereas Aleia Hobbs, number 3 at the USATF finals, will not be flying to the Worlds. The reason?

Well, Hobbs has confirmed that she will miss the World Champs due to injury.“Grateful for this season and for the love and support along the way. I won’t be competing in Tokyo due to injury; however, resilience has always been part of my story. This is just another chapter. 🫶🏽.” Aleia Hobbs confirmed via Instagram. This was going to be her first time running the 100m at the World Championships since 2022. But she unfortunately had to back out due to injury. And consequently, Tee Tee Terry, who was fourth at the Nationals, will take her place. But this might not be as sudden as it looks.

Signs had been around that Hobbs was struggling. After the USATF 100m finals, Hobbs had shared, “my body was not ready, but my head was.” A really strong message, but coded with the hint that physically, she still might be hurting. In a July update, she had written, “Started the year dealing with a couple of injuries.” The signs also showed up in early 2025, when she pulled out of the 60m at the U.S. Indoor Championships, opting not to defend her title because of ongoing injury concerns. Though these were not the only times her injuries had forced her out of an important tournament.

At the 2023 U.S. Indoor Championships, a hard fall left her with a broken left wrist. The injury kept her out of weight training and block starts for several weeks, even though she had just clocked a record-setting 6.94 seconds. At the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, she was forced to withdraw from the 60m final, leaving the track in a wheelchair after a calf cramp worsened during the semifinal.

Now, Hobbs and Thomas, both sitting out of Tokyo, would create gaps in both the single and relay events. What’s also a problem is that TeeTee Terry did not have a great season.

At the Star Athletics Sprint, she did clock a time of 10.85s, the fifth fastest 100m of the season, beating Hobbs and White both. But when faced with big names like Julien Alfred in the Prefontaine Classic, her time went to 11.17s, and she was fifth. Plus, in her last race, she clocked 11.33s at the NACAC Championships, finishing 4th and failing to advance to the finals.

With Gabby Thomas out, the void gets deeper 

If you remember, much like Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby had also opted out of the semi-finals of the 100m in the USATF Championships. This was after she finished 3rd in the heats with 11.02s on the clock. Even the 200m, the discipline she is best known for, did not see the best of her. She barely qualified for the Worlds by a 0.001s lead, recording 22.20s. There were signs that Gabby Thomas is not the Gabby Thomas we know; something was wrong. Then she confirmed.

In the mixed zone, she told, “I haven’t been able to train too much, which is kind of tough because I’m dealing with an Achilles issue. When you have to take a couple of weeks off before the USA’s, that’s never a good feeling.” She said that two days before the race, she couldn’t even walk. But there were hopes that she would come to Tokyo.

But after making the team, she made an Instagram post saying that this is not the time she wished for, but there is a lot of time to Tokyo and she can chop off some extra seconds. Did she? Guess we will never know.

Thomas broke America’s heart today when she announced, “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. 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.” The woman who claimed three gold just about a year ago is not going to the worlds because of injuries.

McKenzie Long is taking her place. She has had a good 2025, running 21.93 at the Ed Murphey Classic to rank among the world’s top 200m sprinters. She was just thousandths off the podium at the USATF Championships (5th in 22.20) and gained valuable experience on the Diamond League, including a spot in the Final. With Gabby Thomas out, she can go at least the semifinals and have a realistic shot at the finals. If she can reproduce or lower her 21.93, who knows, maybe a medal?