Lone Star Grand Prix

NDIANAPOLIS -- Running a world-leading 21.70 to win the Lone Star Grand Prix women's 200, Gabby Thomas (Austin, TX/USATF Texas Southern) earned recognition as the 22nd USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2026.

The reigning Olympic champion in the 200, Thomas continued her undefeated season across all events with a marvelous run around the bend at Texas A&M's E.B. Cushing Stadium, highlighting the USATF Tour/World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet with a time that was the eighth fastest ever by an American woman.

Thomas, who also won gold on the Team USATF 4x100 and 4x400 relays at Paris '24, won by .37 seconds over Kayla White as she ran her second sub-22 time of the young season.

Other top performances from last week:

Jacob Nur, 70, won the men's 70-74 division at the USATF Masters 4 Mile Championships and broke the American record by 59 seconds with his 24:22 clocking. His age-grading score of 93.12 was the highest overall.

Cooper Lutkenhaus won the Stockholm Diamond League men's 800 in 1:42.70 in his debut on the DL circuit. It was the second fastest American U20 performance ever, and the No. 7 all-time world U20 performance.

Angelina Alder ran the fastest women's mile ever by a 13-year-old, a 4:38.25 to win the Brooks PR Junior race. 

Trey Cunningham ran a world-leading 12.98 to win the Rome Diamond League men's 110 hurdles.

Kassie Parker won the women's USATF 4 Mile Championships by seven seconds in 20:16

Ahmed Muhumed was the men's winner at the USATF 4 Mile Championships, clocking 17:57 for a three-second victory margin.

Now in its 25th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2026 Winners: January 15, Jonathan Simms; January 22, Michelle Rohl; January 29, Josh Hoey; February 5, Roisin Willis; February 12, Jordan Geist; February 19, Cole Hocker; February 26, Cynthia McNamee; March 5, Chase Jackson; March 12, Lauren Harris; March 19, Garrett Kaalund; March 26, Cooper Lutkenhaus; April 2, Rudy Winkler; April 9, Max Thomas; April 16, Sam Mattis; April 23, Tahmar Upshaw; April 30, Kaitlin Bounds; May 7, Karissa Schweizer; May 14, Anna Cockrell; May 21, Tatyana McFadden; May 28, Masai Russell; June 4, Joe Kovacs; June 11, Gabby Thomas.

We welcome your nominations!

To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about their performance to communications@usatf.org.

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