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Gabby Thomas' training partner, Tia Jones, shared her reaction to their coach, Tonja Buford-Bailey's comment on her 100m hurdles performance at the Kingston Grand Slam Track event. Jones competed as a challenger in this event, unlike Thomas, who is a racer and will race all events of the GST league across the season.
Jones finished sixth in the 100-meter race, which prevented her from winning the league's overall short hurdles bracket. With a season lead run time of 12.63 seconds, she won the hurdles competition.
Following this performance, the Grand Slam Track's Instagram shared glimpses of Jones' 100m hurdles in Kingston. Buford-Bailey shared this video on her stories and dropped a two-word reaction. She wrote:
"Fierce determination"
Elated with this special mention from her coach, Jones shared Buford-Bailey's story on her handle and thanked the coach. She wrote:
Trending
"Thx coach"
Gabby Thomas and Tia Jones' coach, Tonja Buford-Bailey, is an Olympian herself, who won the bronze medal position in the 400-meter hurdles competition in the 1996 Summer Games. She also finished second in the World Championships' 400-meter hurdles competition in 1995.
Gabby Thomas talks about her move to the University of Texas in her initial years
Gabby Thomas opened up about her transition to Austin during the initial years of her career. Before this transition, Thomas participated in several races for the Ivy League and the NCAA Championships for the Harvard collegiate team.
The 200m Olympic champion moved to Austin because of her higher studies and track and field skills, and to make it to the national team. Additionally, she wanted to face a few challenges, owing to which the University of Texas was the best suited for her. She said (via Forbes):
"I moved here for both track and field and my master’s program. At the time I moved here, I had not made any type of Olympic team or U.S. team. So I moved to give myself the best opportunity to do that. I wanted to push myself not just as an athlete but academically. So, UT was the perfect fit. Austin does have an incredible music scene and a great food scene."
Speaking about her 4x100m teammates at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Thomas remarked that this team is one of the most talented and fierce sides, especially in this distance of the relays.
