Between August 2023 and the end of July 2024, Tara secured one world outdoor championships silver medal, one world indoor championships gold medal and a superb victory at the US Olympic Trials, all establishing her as a medal contender once the Paris Games get under way. At the Games in Tokyo in 2021, she placed a fine sixth.
In high school in California, Davis-Woodhall (then, just Davis; these days she is married to Paralympian sprinter Hunter Woodhall) was also a 100m hurdler, setting a windy US high record of 12.83m. She also long jumped a state record of 6.73m/22-1, erasing the 24-year-old mark of Marion Jones. After graduating high school, Tara attended the University of Georgia where she broke the world under-20 record in the 60m hurdles (7.98) during the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. After a season at Georgia, she transferred to the University of Texas where, in 2021, she long jumped 7.14m/23-5¼ to set the collegiate record and place her among the top 30 jumpers of all time.
This year, she improved that mark to an altitude-aided 7.18m/23-6¾ in taking the US indoor title in Albuquerque, NM. At the US Trials, after two fouls and a little nail-biting, she reached 7.00m/22-11¾ to take the victory by two centimeters and secure her seat on the airplane to Paris.
“A legitimate gold medal favorite.” Click here to see Tara Davis-Woodhall take the US Trials title.
Paris Result:
Gold medal, 7.10m/23-3½.