Tara Davis-Woodhall

Tara Davis-Woodhall OLY (née Davis; /ˈtɑːrə/ TAH-rə; born May 20, 1999) is an American track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in women's long jump at the 2024 Summer Olympics and also a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. In 2017 she set the American junior women's record in the indoor long jump, and placed 6th in the women's long jump final at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Davis-Woodhall is also a hurdler.

Early life

Davis-Woodhall was born in Agoura Hills, California to parents Ty and Rayshon Davis. Her father is a former track and field athlete at Texas A&M. She is the youngest of five children.

High school

Davis-Woodhall broke the American junior record for indoor long jump at the Dumanis Sports Group Prep Classic in Frisco, Texas on February 11, 2017, with a distance of 6.68 m (21 ft 10+3⁄4 in).

Later in the year, running for Agoura High School, she won three events at the CIF California State Meet. Her win in the 100 meters hurdles in 12.83 beat the National high school record, but it was aided by a +3.7 mps wind. Her mark is the best under all conditions in history. She also set the state record in the long jump. Her 22 ft 1 in (6.73 m) beat the 24-year-old record by Olympian Marion Jones, who at the time jumped for another Marmonte League school, Thousand Oaks High School. A few weeks earlier, she had run the hurdles in 12.89 at the Ventura County meet. It was the second fastest wind legal race in history. She was selected Ventura County Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

After graduating high school, she attended the University of Georgia where she was coached by Petros Kyprianou.

College

As a University of Georgia student athlete, Davis-Woodhall broke Klaudia Siciarz's world under-20 record in the 60 m hurdles with a time of 7.98 seconds, during the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. In the same meet, she came 3rd in the long jump, completing a University of Georgia sweep. She finished behind Keturah Orji and Kate Hall.

After a season at Georgia, she transferred to the University of Texas. She did not get to compete until the 2019–2020 track season, because of transfer rules. She went on to appeal her old coach’s decision to hold her from being released from the team.

In 2021, Davis-Woodhall jumped 7.14 meters at the Texas Relays in Austin to set the collegiate record. The jump placed her in the top 30 of all time.

Career

Davis-Woodhall qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics by jumping 7.04 meters to place second at the Olympic Trials in June 2021. She placed sixth in the women's long jump at the Olympic final, with a best distance jumped of 6.84 meters.

Davis-Woodhall won the national long jumping title at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque in February 2023, with a distance of 6.99 meters. She was later stripped of the title after a urine sample she submitted at the event showed a cannabis metabolite level above the allowed limit. She received a reduced suspension of one month after completing a substance abuse treatment program.

Davis-Woodhall won a silver medal in the women's long jump at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with a distance of 6.91 meters.

She competed at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships where she won a gold medal in the long jump event with a distance of 7.07m.

She currently serves as an assistant coach for Kansas State University Track and Field team.

Personal life

Davis-Woodhall married Paralympian Hunter Woodhall on October 16, 2022. They operate a YouTube channel together.