Career
Early years
Thompson is a native of Banana Ground in Manchester Parish, Jamaica. Running for Christiana High School and later Manchester High School, Thompson was a good but not outstanding scholastic sprinter. Her best result at the Jamaican Boys and Girls Championships came in 2009, when she placed fourth in the Class Two 100 metres in 12.01.
In 2011, her final year at Manchester High, she was left off the track team for disciplinary reasons.
After high school, she was recruited to the University of Technology, Jamaica by Paul Francis, brother of Most Valuable Player Track Club head coach Stephen Francis. With Most Valuable Player coaching, Thompson"s times started improving steadily.
2015
Thompson made her international breakthrough in 2015. At the Pre Classic in Eugene Thompson was narrowly beaten by English Gardner in the B-race as both were timed in 10.84.
As of 27 July 2015, this remains Thompson"s best in the 100 m and ranks her 30th on the world all-time list.
Thompson was expected to run the 100 metres at the Jamaican National Championships, which doubled as trials for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. However, her coach Stephen Francis pulled her from that event and instead had her concentrate on the 200 metres, in which she had set a personal best of 22.37 in May. The move generated controversy in Jamaica.
Francis stated that Thompson was not ready to double, and that she had been prepared for the 200 m in which her main weakness, the start, would not play as large a role.
Thompson"s time of 21.66 was faster than the previous championships record but 0.03 slower than Schippers.