Three-time Olympic Gold medalist Gabby Thomas has hit back at critics of her fellow Olympian, Noah Lyles.
Lyles, the men’s 100m champion in Paris, went head-to-head with YouTuber IShowSpeed on the track in a $100,000 sprint race.
However, social media users were left stunned, claiming the online content creator gave the sprinter a run for his money.
While the six-time world champion Lyles won in the end, Speed actually led for part of the 50m race before his competitor pulled ahead in the final stretch.
Speed initially claimed that the race was a tie, while Lyles noted that he started high-stepping after taking the lead.
However, Thomas, who recently shone in a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot alongside fellow athletes Suni Lee and Nelly Korda, defended her fellow speedster.
‘This wasn’t close…like at all,’ the Harvard graduate wrote alongside two laughing emojis as she replied to a post on X claiming different angles showed how ‘close’ IShowSpeed was to beating Lyles.
‘Speed is fast but this race wasn’t close. lol idk how far you expect somebody to be at 50m. and it looks like Noah wasn’t even running fr?!,’ she added in the comments.
Social media users had initially been left impressed by the YouTuber’s skill on the track.
‘Nah the fact speed even came close to beating him is insane,’ one said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
‘Speed deada** could’ve went pro in multiple sports,’ another said.
A third said, ‘It was closer than I thought… That’s crazy.’
Ultimately, with clear video evidence from the race, Speed conceded that Lyles ‘barely won’ before the runner pledged to donate the money to charity.
The track star, who recently got engaged to fellow Olympian Junelle Bromfield, narrowly claimed gold in the 100m in Paris, but was unable to complete the double as he placed third in the 200m.
It was later revealed that he was battling Covid and ran the race while extremely ill.
Thomas, meanwhile, became a champion Olympic sprinter for the first time after sweeping up gold medals in the 200m event and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
She previously represented Team USA during the Covid-impacted Tokyo Games, where she claimed the gold in 200m and silver in 4x100m.
