‘This is My Man!’ - How Tara Davis-Woodhall’s Brave Slide into Hunter’s Twitter DMs Eventually Led to Marriage

Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall has opened up about the unlikely chain of events that began with a trackside hug and a bold Twitter message, and ended in marriage to American Paralympic 400m champion Hunter Woodhall.

The couple first crossed paths as teenagers at an indoor track meet. Davis-Woodhall was watching the men’s 400m when the stadium announcer repeatedly called Woodhall’s name. 

“The crowd was going crazy — it was a great race between him and another athlete,” she recalled on Justin Gatlin’s Ready Set Go podcast. “I remember thinking, ‘Who is Hunter Woodhall? Who the heck is this guy?’”

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As she made her way onto the banked indoor track, she spotted the race winner in person. “Oh my god, that’s the kid I was literally just saying was really cute,” she thought.

 Then she noticed his prosthetic racing blades. “That’s so sick — that’s so cool!”

Without hesitation, Davis-Woodhall approached the breathless sprinter and told him, “I don’t know why I have to do this, but I have to give you a hug.”

For Woodhall, who had just finished the exhausting 400m, the moment was equally surprising. “You finish a 400m and you’re a little dizzy anyway, so I was just trying to take it in,” he said.

 “Before my race, I’d even mentioned her to a friend. Then after I finished, I saw her walking toward me and thought, ‘No way she’s actually coming up here.’”

Following the meet, the two followed each other on social media. For months, they remained casual online friends until one evening Davis-Woodhall saw him posting on Twitter. 

On impulse, she sent him a direct message: What are you doing up so late? It was only 9 p.m., but for high school athletes with early mornings, that counted as late. Woodhall’s quick reply — I was just waiting for you — left her thinking, “This is my man.”

The friendship deepened in 2017, when Woodhall was training at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center ahead of the World Championships, while Davis-Woodhall was preparing for the Pan American Games nearby. 

She spent a full day with him — training, talking, and watching each other compete in their respective events. When it got too late to drive home, Paralympian Scout Bassett offered them her apartment for the night.

That meeting marked the turning point. Years later, the pair are now married, combining Olympic and Paralympic success and earning recognition as one of track and field’s most celebrated power couples.

What began with a hug, a DM, and a touch of boldness has grown into a partnership built on shared ambition, mutual respect, and a story both say they’ll never get tired of telling.