Budapest 2023: Tausaga Emerges As The First U.S World Champion

A fifth-round huge throw from USA’s Laulauga Tausaga redirected the women’s discus final on day four of the World Athletics Championship in Budapest.

Going to Budapest, Allman was the first woman to have throwb over the 70-meter mark this year, with her season’s best of 70.25m set in April in San Diego. That showed the kind of form that saw her break the region record last year, with 71.46m.

She had also reliably outperformed 65 meters all through this season, with eight wins out of 10, including the US Trials which she won with 67.66m.

She topped the qualifying round with 67.14m, showing her preparation to update the bronze medal she won last year in Oregon behind Feng, who hit gold with a lifetime best of 69.12m, while the famous Sandra Perkovic took silver.

The Chinese athlete accompanied six wins from seven competitions, and finished just behind Allman in the qualifiers, continuing in second with 65.68m.

Comparatively, had recorded mixed results in the course of a long season which saw her make 12 appearances but only secure two victories, the farthest being the 65.46m lifetime best that she set at the US Trials to finish second to Allman. As a result, she wasn’t considered a top contender in Budapest.

With two fouls in her first and fourth endeavors, and afterward a second-round throw of 52.28m, Tausaga was at the lower part of the jump.

Taking to the ring, the 25-year-old dug deep to produce the farthest throw of her life that quickly shot her to the top, recording a lifetime best of 69.49m, and moving past her colleague by 26cm.

Budapest 2023: Sha’Carri Richardson Appears In An Excellent Style To Grab Gold

The 2019 NCAA champion was delighted, stumbling into the track to celebrate her new accomplishment with her team.

With her accomplishment in Budapest, Tausaga emerged as the first US world champion in the event, inspiring a 1-2 for the North American nation and adding a new page in the history books.

“I don’t know if I have a fairy godmother or something, or my ancestors had some say in it, but I was able to do something tonight that I didn’t think was possible yet,” said Tausaga. “I was confident if I was on my A game I could sneak through into a medal place and not be 12th like I was in the last two world championships.

“I’m just so happy. It’s unbelievable to go from 12th to first. No one was expecting me and I just showed up.”

Meanwhile, Jorinde van Klinken almost broke through the top three with a last-gap effort in the fifth round, but had to be content to leave Budapest with a season’s best of 67.20m for fourth.