Eve Thomas competed at her second Olympic Games in Paris, following in the footsteps of her mum and biggest inspiration, Sarah Thomas (née Hardcastle), who won silver and bronze at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games representing Great Britain.

Thomas’ earliest memories of swimming consist of days spent with her mum, learning to swim at just a few years old. Thomas has always loved the water, something she puts down to being in her blood. A freestyler by nature, Thomas tends to avoid the other strokes. However, she makes an effort to race a 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley each year. Thomas’ favourite event is the 800m freestyle.

Thomas learned to swim with her mum and started with Coast Swim Club at age six. She became more serious about swimming at sixteen and moved to Brisbane at seventeen to train at St Peter’s Western with coach John Gatfield. That year, she won her first national age titles and debuted internationally at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Thomas became an Aquablack at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, where she competed in the 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay. A tenth-place finish in the latter event earned New Zealand a quota spot for the Tokyo Olympics.

Competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, Thomas took on the 800m and 1500m freestyle in addition to the 4x200m freestyle relay, posting personal best times in her individual events. Becoming an Olympian was realising a childhood dream for Thomas, who felt privileged to represent New Zealand on the world’s biggest sporting stage while competing against such high-calibre athletes.

Thomas qualified for her first senior international final at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, placing seventh in the 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay. A month later, she placed fourth in the 800m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

After falling ill at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Thomas was a stand-out performer seven months later at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships – placing fourth in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle events, fifth in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and seventh in the 400m freestyle. She posted Olympic qualification marks in the 400m and 800m freestyle events at the championships in Doha.

Thomas added a third individual event—the 1500m freestyle—to her Paris 2024 roster at the 2024 New Zealand Swimming Championships.

Competing at her second Olympic Games in Paris, Thomas notched two 12th place finishes in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events, in addition to a 17th place finish in the 1500m freestyle. Thomas was also part of the women's 4x200m freestyle relay that made history by becoming the first group of Kiwi women to progress through to a relay final at an Olympic Games. The quartet of Thomas, Erika Fairweather, Caitlin Deans, and Laticia Transom placed eighth in the final – marking the first Olympic final of Thomas' career.

Following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Thomas moved back to Auckland after years of training with Dean Boxall’s ‘super squad’ at St Peter’s Western.

Outside swimming, Thomas is studying Psychology and Business at Massey University and runs her activewear brand, The Skulpt Collective. Thomas loves to travel and immerse herself in different cultures while enjoying the simple things life has to offer.

Favourite Quote – “Look good, feel good, race good.”