Thomas tried high jumping once in a high school competition in the Bahamas as a teenager. He wanted to be a basketball player and enrolled at Lindenwood University in Missouri. But he did not enjoy the program and eventually took the high-jump dare from a friend who had seen him dunk a basketball with great ease. He ended up clearing 2.22 meters in his first meet in January 2006 while wearing basketball shoes and later finished fourth without spikes at the Commonwealth Games.