Athletics-Car crash leaves Davis-Woodhall facing late decision on Budapest event

Sept 2 — Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall has been unable to train ahead of next week's World Athletics Ultimate Championship after suffering a ​severe concussion in a car accident, casting doubt over her participation in the event.

The American said the head-on collision occurred while she was driving to a training session.

"I didn't have any life-threatening injuries. I have a severe concussion," ‌Davis-Woodhall said during a call with reporters on Wednesday to promote the inaugural event, which runs from September 11 to 13 in Budapest.

"I pulled into the parking lot, ⁠and this lady just made a turn. We were both going ​about 20 miles per hour, so both of our cars ⁠were totalled."

The timing could hardly be worse for the 27-year-old, who said she had been in top form ahead of the ‌championships.

"It's really unfortunate timing," she said. "I'm ‌at the peak of my training right now. I'm as fast as I've ever been. I'm as strong ⁠as I've ever been."

She said the accident had been particularly challenging mentally.

"It's very ⁠scary," she said. "I'm lucky and blessed to be alive and no life-threatening injuries. I haven't trained at all due to it. I've seen my doctors and my physios, and everyone's just trying to get me back into it.

"I'm physically okay. Mentally, it's just something's going on in there."

STILL DECIDING WHETHER TO COMPETE

With the championships barely a week away, Davis-Woodhall said she had yet to decide whether she would compete.

"This decision is very difficult for me," she said. "I don't know where ‌I am right now. So, day by day."

Davis-Woodhall is also the lead content creator for ​the inaugural event, which was designed to showcase the sport's biggest stars on and off the track in the hope of drawing younger fans to the sport.

It features a prize pot of $10 million, the largest in track and field history, with each winner pocketing $150,000.

Olympic 200 metres champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana said one of the most appealing aspects of the competition was that athletes in his event will select their own lane, with draw order based on world ranking.

"I'm always being told on which lane I'm going to be in. So now, getting to feel that experience, it's super exciting," he said.

Tebogo ​added that the event's legacy extended beyond its financial rewards.

"For me, it's not about just the money. It's about kids ... what am I going to do ‌to give back ‌to those kids who ⁠are supporting me in Africa?"

Pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis said he had backed the concept from the outset because it provided athletes with a major target in years without a global championships.

"It's super exciting, and I think that's why also I got on board with it very early from the beginning because I just believed in the concept," said the Swede, who will also perform the meet's ‌official anthem titled "Gold" that he wrote ​and recently released.

"It was about time to innovate a bit within athletics ‌to have this sort of championships, ⁠and of course it's always ​tough for all the athletes when we have down years and we don't have a championship.

"This really fills the gap perfectly."

(Reporting by Lori EwingEditing ​by Toby Davis)

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