THE REIGNING WORLD and Olympic long jump champion broke the news on her Instagram on September 02, sharing that she had been involved in a head-on collision a week earlier. The accident resulted in a concussion and other injuries, and Tara Davis-Woodhall was unsure if she would compete in Budapest. Five days later, she made official the choice to end her season.
Davis-Woodhall had only jumped three times in ’26 and her 14-meet winning streak (since her Budapest ’23 silver) had come to an end at the U.S. champs in July. But she was still the world leader and would have been the clear favorite. Who would step up in her wake?
Would it be one of the three Americans in the field? Diamond League Final winner Monae’ Nichols, ’25 World Indoor champ Claire Bryant, or perhaps Alyssa Jones — who beat both of them and Davis-Woodhall at USAs? Or would it be European champ Larissa Iapichino or any of the three others who very closely followed the Italian in Birmingham: Jazmin Sawyers, Hilary Kpatcha or Agate De Sousa?
As the hammer throwers found out earlier in the session, getting a good mark early would be key in a competition with just 4 attempts and the field paring down to 6 after two rounds and 4 after three. So what did Iapichino — also No. 2 on the world list from a 1cm loss to Davis-Woodhall at Pre — do on the first jump of the competition?
She merely hit the board perfectly and land in the special pink sand at 22-7¾ (6.90), putting a big target out there on a cool, damp night not conducive to big jumps.
Jones took the cue and responded with a 22-2½ (6.77). Unfortunately, she left 14cm on the board, but put herself firmly in 2nd. Both Iapichino and Jones had solid round 2 jumps, but did not improve, while Kpatcha nailed a 22-1 (6.73) to close the gap in 3rd. Meanwhile, Nichols was off form and didn’t earn a third jump, while Bryant had to settle for a 21-4¾ in the penultimate stanza that left her 5th.
The standings remained the same through three rounds, leaving the daughter of 2-time World champ Fiona May leading off the final round. She fouled, however, then watched while Jones and Kpatcha tried — unsuccessfully — to surpass her. But Sawyers, with only a 21-7½ going into her final leap, nearly succeeded. She hit 22-3 (6.78) to rocket into 2nd, the same position she finished behind Iapichino (by 1cm) in Birmingham.
The 24-year-old Italian’s best in a World or Olympic meet was 4th in Tokyo last year, so she was understandably thrilled to augment her mom’s legacy. “This is amazing,” she said. “I am adding a new title to my family and I’m really happy to win from my first attempt.”
Annotated results coming soon.
September 11
LJ: 1. Larissa Iapichino (Ita) 22-7¾ (6.90) (22-7¾, 22-2¼w, f, f) (6.90, 6.76w, f, f); 2. Jazmin Sawyers (GB) 22-3 (6.78) (f, 21-7½, 21-5½, 22-3) (f, 6.59, 6.54, 6.78); 3. Alyssa Jones (US) 22-2½ (6.77) (22-2½, 22-¼, f, 21-6¼) (6.77, 6.71, f, 6.56);
4. Hilary Kpatcha (Fra) 22-1 (6.73) (21-3¼, 22-1, 20-4¼, 20-6½) (6.48, 6.73, 6.20, 6.26); 5. Claire Bryant (US) 21-4¾ (6.52) (21-½, 20-11¼, 21-4¾) (6.41, 6.38, 6.52); 6. Agate De Sousa (Por) 21-2¾ (6.47) (20-10, 21-2¾, 21-½) (6.35, 6.47, 6.41); 7. Monae’ Nichols (US) 20-11¾ (6.39) (20-11¾, 20-9¼) (6.39, 6.33); 8. Marthe Yasmine Koala (Bur) 20-4½ (6.21) (20-2¼, 20-4½) (6.15, 6.21).
