In his first
World Championships in Athletics in
Osaka in 2007, Thompson reached the second round but finished eighth in a time of 10.44 seconds. His personal best time is 9.89 seconds, achieved in August 2008 in
Beijing, China, during the
Olympic 100 m final where he won silver. Thompson's personal best for the
200 metres is 20.18 s which ran in
Fayetteville for
LSU. His
60 metres best is 6.51 s, achieved in March 2008 in
Fayetteville. He won the relay
gold medal at the
2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships with Trinidad and Tobago. In the
2008 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 100 m sprint and placed first in his heat ahead of
Martial Mbandjock with a time of 10.24 s. He qualified for the second round, beating
Tyson Gay and Mbandjock, with a winning time of 9.99 s. He qualified in the semi-finals with a time of 9.93 s, finishing second to
Asafa Powell. In the final, he finished in second place; he was far behind winner
Usain Bolt (9.69 s) but his time of 9.89 s was enough to win the silver medal and set a new personal best. His new best time made him the second fastest Trinidadian 100 m sprinter ever, after
Ato Boldon. Together with
Keston Bledman,
Aaron Armstrong and
Marc Burns he also competed at the
4 × 100 metres relay. In their qualification heat, they placed first in front of Japan, the Netherlands and
Brazil. Their time of 38.26 s was the fastest of all sixteen teams participating in the first round and they qualified for the final. Armstrong was replaced by
Emmanuel Callender for the final race and they sprinted to a time of 38.06 s, the second time after the Jamaican team, winning the
silver medal. In 2022, Thompson and his teammates received the gold medal due to Jamaica's
Nesta Carter testing positive for the prohibited substance
methylhexaneamine. Thompson was involved in a car accident on 1 January 2009, resulting in minor injuries which caused him to miss the indoor athletics season. He competed at the
2009 World Championships in Athletics and reached the 100 m final, finishing in fifth place with a season's best of 9.93 seconds in fastest ever race at that point in time. He teamed up with fellow finalist
Marc Burns for the relay and ran a national record time of 37.62 seconds to finish as runners-up behind the Jamaican team. He achieved a 100/200 m double at the 2010 national championships. His season was highlighted by a win on the
2010 IAAF Diamond League circuit, taking the 100 m at the
Prefontaine Classic with a wind-assisted time of 9.89 seconds. In August, Thompson broke the
national record with a run of 9.85 s at the 2011 national championships. The achievement, which ranked him ninth fastest in all-time lists, eclipsed
Ato Boldon's record by 0.01 seconds. Despite this form, he failed to make the 100 m final at the
2011 World Championships in Athletics, being eliminated in the semis, although he did anchor the relay team to fifth place in the final. At the 2012 national championships, he had his win streak beaten by
Keston Bledman and had to settle for second with his time of 9.96 seconds. In the 2012, 100 m Olympic final, he gained the distinction of becoming the first man to break ten seconds and finish in seventh place. However, upon the disqualification of
Tyson Gay due to doping, Thompson was promoted to sixth place. During the 2014 national championships, he won the finals, improving the national record with a run of 9.82 s, becoming one of the 10 fastest 100 m runners ever. ==Major competition record==