Hunter and Tara have a lot in common.
Both are 25-year-old track stars vying for Olympic gold in Paris. They’re also husband and wife.
Tara Davis-Woodhall, a women’s long jumper, and Hunter Woodhall, a men’s paralympic sprinter, train together, travel together and finish each other’s sentences while sharing the story of how they met — at a track meet. “We hold each other accountable — we’re a partnership, we’re a team,” Davis-Woodhall told Team USA of her relationship with Woodhall, whom she married in 2022.
“Every day, it’s a new experience, but we get to do it together, so it makes it ten times better.” Hunter Woodhall, who was born with a birth defect and whose lower legs were amputated, runs with prosthetics, and will compete in his third Paralympic Games in Paris.
Davis-Woodhall competed in her first Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and is in the midst of a triumphant season, winning gold at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. Both are established stars, yet both say they recently faced obstacles, adjusted their preparation and are ready to win gold.
Davis-Woodhall cites winning silver at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest as a turning point in her career. “Second place flipped a switch for me,” she told Olympics.com.
“Now I grind harder than I ever have, I pay attention harder than I ever have, I’m frustrated about the small things because I know those small things are important.” Intensive training means Davis-Woodhall sometimes skips family vacations or gives up time with friends.
“Sacrificing doesn’t mean giving up your entire life,” she tells young people. “It just means sacrificing things here and there so you can be the best person that you could be.”
As for long jumping, her objective is simple: “I have to put something out so far that no one can touch it.” Woodhall says witnessing his wife’s renewed commitment inspires him to train harder.
He medalled in the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics but fell short of a gold. In July 2023, a malfunctioning prosthetic forced him to withdraw from the World Para Athletics Championships. Following the disappointment, Woodhall enlisted an expert and a data-driven approach to reconfigure new prosthetics.
“Let’s control the controllable,” he said, describing his approach. “Really try to take all those things that can go wrong out of the equation, so we can win more medals.”
He’s on the right track. Woodhall set a U.S. record in the 400 meters at the Paralympic team trials in Miramar, Florida, July 20. “This sport has given us everything,” he said.
“We have the chance to travel the world and work together every day, so we have so much to be grateful for.”
