Tara Davis-Woodhall wins world indoor long jump title
Mar. 5—GLASGOW, Scotland — Tara Davis-Woodhall, who was second in the world outdoor championships, moved up a spot to claim a world indoor title in the women's long jump on Sunday.
Davis-Woodhall, who has ties to Greenville, won her first world title with a best leap of 23 feet, 2 1/2 inches at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. She won a battle with American Monae' Nichols, who was second with a best of 22-5 3/4.
Davis-Woodhall's next big goal will be making the U.S. team and winning the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But first she plans to take a break.
"I'm going to take a couple of weeks off," Davis-Woodhall said to CNBC announcer Lewis Johnson after the win. "Reset my brain, reset the cycle."
She won the U.S. indoor recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a personal-best jump of 23-6 3/4. Her leap was the longest indoor jump in the world this year, the second longest in U.S. women's history and ranked her sixth all-time in the world rankings.
Davis-Woodhall is the daughter of former Greenville sprinter/hurdler and football player Ty Davis. Her grandparents Reecy Davis Jr. and Roz Lane are from Greenville and so was her late great-grandfather Reecy Davis Sr. The Reecy Davis Recreation Center is named for him.
She competed in college at Georgia and the University of Texas and broke the U.S. college record in the long jump with a leap of 23-5 1/2.
She also won California state high school championships in the long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles.
She also won the silver medal at the 2023 world track and field outdoor championships at Budapest, Hungary with a leap of 22-8.
Davis-Woodhall finished sixth in the long jump at the Tokyo Olympics at 22-5 1/4.
