Tara Davis Woodhall at the World Athletics Championships. Budapest 2023. - Source: Getty

Tara Davis-Woodhall reveals unfortunate incident at USATF NYC Grand Prix that persisted as she won gold medal at Paris Olympics

Modified Sep 19, 2024 04:15 GMT

Tara Davis-Woodhall addressed the heel injury she suffered at the 2024 New York Grand Prix, revealing that the pain continues to bother her. She leaped 7.14m in that event before bagging the long jump gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

The 25-year-old won the long jump silver medal at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and a few months later, clinched gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships, jumping a distance of 7.07m. She also set a world-leading 7.18m mark at the USATF Indoor Championships.

Before the Paris Olympics, Davis-Woodhall umped a stellar 7.14m to win the long jump event at the New York Grand Prix, a stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour. However, her jump broke her heel, and the impact still lingers.

In her recent Instagram story, the two-time Olympian shared a celebratory post of World Athletics featuring her and captioned it:

"Fun fact: broke my heel at this meet and have been struggling since"

Tara Davis-Woodhall heel injury; Instagram - @_taarra_

After Tara Davis-Woodhall jumped 6.90m to qualify for the Olympic finals, she opened up about her mental and physical struggles with the heel injury.

"I actually took three weeks off and I was only doing sprint work. I had a really gnarly bone bruise in my heel so I’ve been trying to keep the jumping limited."

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She added:

"It was before Trials – it actually happened at the NYC Grand Prix. It was the worst pain I think I’ve ever been through. I was scared, for a while I was like, ‘Oh my God, is this gonna heal before the Trials?’ No. ‘Is it gonna heal before the Olympics?’ No."

Davis-Woodhall also shared how she looked past the difficulties and promised to do whatever was possible. At that time, her training mostly included rehab and prep work.

Tara Davis-Woodhall bagged her maiden long jump Olympic gold in Paris

Tara Davis-Woodhall with her gold medal at the Paris Olympics (Image Source: Getty)

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Texas-born qualified for the long jump finals but finished sixth by jumping a distance of 6.84m. She made up for her loss and jumped 7.10m to lift her first Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The gold medal success was capped off by another adorable moment of Davis-Woodhall embracing her husband and Paralympian, Hunter Woodhall.

More than winning the gold, the 25-year-old was pleased to show the world what long jump could do.

"I had the entire stadium watch the long jump for just a split second. And it means more than anything. And I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to show what long jump is capable of and to show that field matter for sure," she said. (via Olympics.com)

Hunter Woodhall also lifted his maiden Olympic gold after winning the 400-meter T62 event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He also embraced his wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall, after his win, a moment reminiscent of their previous embrace in Paris.