Before joining Sports Illustrated, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world’s largest international English-language daily. While at the paper, Thomsen covered a wide array of sports, such as soccer, tennis, track, basketball and golf. He also has covered major events, including the 1994 World Cup, the 1996 Olympics and the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, has worked also worked for The Boston Globeand was a feature writer for The National.