London Diamond League 2024 Women's 200m Prediction: Can Gabby Thomas win the pre-Olympic showdown?

The 2024 London Diamond League is all set to feature a competitive 200m lineup, including Gabby Thomas, Rhasidat Adeleke, Julien Alfred, and Dina Asher-Smith, among a few big names. The London leg of the Diamond League is one of the major track and field events to be happening before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The meeting will not only provide Diamond League points but also serve as an important event for the athletes to analyze their form ahead of the upcoming quadrennial Games where Athletics events are beginning from August 1 and will end on August 11, 2024.

In the women’s 100m, Gabby Thomas, Tamara Clark, and Jenna Prandini from the United States, the Irish national record holder Rhasidat Adeleke, St Lucia's Julien Alfred, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, and Amy Hunt, comprise the star-studded field at the London Diamond League.

Among all the sprinters, Thomas clocked the quickest time in the 2024 Olympic season with a sensational 21.78s, which she achieved during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in the semi-finals of the 200m. This timing is also the best timing recorded by a female sprinter in the 200m this season.

Meanwhile, Clark (22.12), Alfred (22.16), Asher-Smith (22.18), Prandini (22.26), Neita (22.36), Adeleke (22.45), and Hunt (22.65) have achieved these marks as their best performances of the season in the 200m event.

Based on the athletes’ recent form, Gabby Thomas will be heading into the event as a pre-race favorite. The American has a personal best of 21.60s in the event, which ranks her fourth in the all-time list, only behind Florence Griffith Joyner (21.34s), Shericka Jackson (21.41s), and Elaine Thompson-Herah (21.53s).

However, the ones who stand a chance to emerge as the winner and upset the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist at the London Diamond League are Julien Alfred, Dina Asher-Smith, and Rhasidat Adeleke.

---

A look into Gabby Thomas’ performance in Diamond League events

Gabby Thomas of Team United States poses with the bronze medal for the Women's 200m Final on day twelve of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 04, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

At the Diamond League series, Gabby Thomas has won four legs in total. All of her victories have come in the women’s 200m events, with the last one being in 2023 at the Paris leg where she clocked a time of 22.05s to secure a dominant victory, finishing ahead of compatriot Abby Steiner (22.34s).

Thomas, who occasionally competes in the Diamond League series, won the Doha leg in 2022 with a 21.98s. Additionally, she earned consecutive wins in the Lausanne Diamond League legs in 2019 (22.69s) and 2018 (22.47s).