Thomas lived in New York but moved to Kansas to train where he states he was less distracted. He was immersed in track and field, studying the science behind the discipline as well as executing the moves.
Thomas’ determination and tenacity for athletics spurred him to set records in both the 60m and 110m hurdles at the University of Kentucky whilst pursuing his degree.A dedicated family man, he grew up with three sisters. His parents, Hayden Thomas and Gail Barton, encouraged and motivated him to achieve his goals.
Mikel Thomas was fourth on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) 2012 performance list. The ranking came after he performed a 13.48 in the 110m hurdles at the 2012 Texas Relays, bettering the Olympic A standard by 0.04 seconds and qualifying him for the London Games. This improved upon his personal best time which he had achieved at the 2008 Olympics, 13.62 seconds.
An athlete could focus only on training and improving his own performance, but not Thomas. He joined the staff at Nebraska University to help with recruiting by giving tours and gathering and processing information. He became a mentor and ambassador for TnT Elite Sports.
Mikel Thomas Bio
- Gold Men’s 110m hurdles (13.23 seconds, meet record) NACAC Senior Championships , San Jose, Costa Rica, August 8th, 2015.
- Fifth Men’s 4x100m (38.90 seconds) with Kyle Greaux, Emmanuel Callender and Dan – Neil Telesford.
- Silver 110m hurdles (13.17), Pan Am Games, Toronto 2015
- Started 2013 with third-place finish (7.36 seconds preliminary round, 7.24 seconds in final) in 55-metre hurdle event at Florida Gator Invitational Indoor Meet in Gainesville, Florida, January 17.
- Qualified and picked to represent T&T in the 110-metre hurdles for the 2008 Olympic Games of Beijing and 2012 Games of London