By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall shone bright under the glow of Times Square’s billboards as she headlined the long jump qualifying event for the women’s-only Athlos meet in New York on Thursday.
The athletics start-up Athlos added the field event for its sophomore campaign this year, after its inaugural 2024 meet featured track events only at Icahn Stadium.
American Davis-Woodhall, who won at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last month, leapt 6.81 metres to finish atop the standings on her fourth and final jump in front of throngs of fans and curious onlookers assembled in Times Square.
The competition served as a qualifying event for Friday’s main show, where the final will play out alongside the track events at the sold-out Icahn Stadium on nearby Randall’s Island.
Davis-Woodhall will be joined in the final by Briton Jazmin Sawyers, who was second on Thursday with 6.77m, and American Quanesha Burks (6.38m).
“We deserve every second underneath the lights,” Davis-Woodhall told the crowd before the event kicked off. “There’s endless possibilities.”
Field events have long played second-fiddle to high-octane track and had been frequently overlooked among a recent crop of new athletics meets.
World Athletics’ biennial Ultimate Championship, which launches next year, omitted several field events from its programme.
The Michael Johnson-fronted Grand Slam Track, which cut short its 2025 inaugural season amid financial woes, left field events off its agenda entirely.
When Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian launched Athlos with only track events in 2024, luring the sport’s big names with large payouts, the American Davis-Woodhall told reporters she had just one question: “What about field events?”
“I tweeted (that) not realizing the voice that I had,” she said. “And how much my voice could change the sport or change anything.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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