A six-time Olympic medallist, she rose to prominence at the 2015 World Athletics Championships, winning silver in the 200 m and, at the time, becoming the fifth fastest woman in history over the distance.

[12] She repeated as Jamaican intercollegiate champion in March and broke 11 seconds for the first time at the UTech Classic on 11 April, running a world-leading 10.92 s.[7][13] She ran 10.97 s at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston, defeating a field that included Blessing Okagbare and Allyson Felix.

[12] At the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, she was narrowly beaten by English Gardner in the B-race as both were timed in 10.84 s; as of 27 July 2015, this was Thompson's personal best in the 100 m and ranked her 30th on the world all-time list.

[12][16] 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.

[19] At the London Grand Prix on 25 July, Thompson won a non-scoring Diamond League 200 m race in 22.10 s, defeating Americans Tori Bowie and Candyce McGrone; the time was her new personal best and broke Merlene Ottey's meeting record from 1991.

Fellow Jamaican Veronica Campbell Brown was third in 21.97 s.[23][24] Thompson kicked off her season indoors running multiple 60 m races.

She did not advance to the semifinals in the 200 m running only a 23.34 s.[3] However, Thompson was given a medical exemption in the 200 m which gave her the opportunity to chase the double in Rio.

She would go on to run a personal best of 6.98 s, making her the tied seventh fastest woman and one of eight to break the 7 second barrier over the distance at the time.

[3] At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, she finished fourth in the 100 m running 10.93 s. Thompson-Herah achieved a time of 22.61 s in the 200 m heats, qualifying for the semifinals, but she did not start due to her Achilles tendon injury.

In the 200 m, her season best was 22.19 s.[3] In June, at the Jamaican Championships, she placed third in both her disciplines, with times of 10.84 s and 22.02 s respectively, qualifying in the both events for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On 6 July, she achieved a time of 10.71 s in the 100 m to defeat Fraser-Pryce and win the Continental Tour's Székesfehérvár Memorial in Hungary with a meet record.

[32] In her first post-Olympic race on 21 August, competing at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Thompson-Herah stormed to the 100 m victory with a new career best of 10.54 seconds, the second-fastest time in women's history and only 0.05 s off the world record.

[34] At the Lausanne Athletissima meet, she placed second in the event in 10.64 s, behind Fraser-Pryce who powered to her new lifetime best of 10.60 s, recording however, the fastest runner-up time in history.

[40][41][42][43] After an impressive season in 2021, Thompson-Herah open her Season in the 100 at the Continental Tour Gold winning the race in 10.89 s. She then won at the Prefontaine Classic in a time 10.79 s. She followed that race with a win at the Rabat Diamond League in a meet record 10.89 s. At the Jamaican Championship in June she placed 3rd and 2nd in the 100 m and 200 m respectively in times of 10.89 s and 22.05.