PARIS, France — The U.S. women's 4x100m relay team started with a little lag on Friday at a damp Stade de France in Paris, but Gabby Thomas and Sha'Carri Richardson turned on the afterburners in the final legs to bring home gold.
Thomas, who was born and partly grew up in Atlanta, ran the third leg after Twanisha Terry ran her second leg in a blazing 9.98 seconds.
Thomas turned in a third leg of 10.25 seconds, giving Richardson a leg up to leave the rest of the field behind as she cruised in to finish her leg in 10.09 seconds -- a team total of 41.78 seconds, 0.07 seconds ahead of Great Britain.
It's now the second gold medal in Paris for the 27-year-old, who got her start way back in elementary school racing boys at Buckhead's Pace Academy. Thomas previously won the individual 200m gold.
"I walk into each race kind of thinking (I can win), and telling myself that this is my race and having that confidence. I realized it a few moments, a few meters before the finish line, that I was like 'Okay, this is my race, I actually did do this,'" she said of winning the 200m. "And immediately so many emotions came flooding in."
"For now I'm really excited about this gold medal and I'm still working towards a couple more," she said on Thursday. On Friday, she got a second -- and she could conceivably still compete for the U.S. 4x400m relay team.