Former Hawkeye Laulauga Tausaga wins World Championships gold medal in discus

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Former University of Iowa thrower Laulauga Tausaga made history on Tuesday.

A 2021 Iowa graduate and 2019 NCAA discus champion, Tausaga became the United States’ first women’s discus gold medalist at the World Athletics Championships.

Tausaga and Valarie Allman finished 1-2 for the Americans. Tausaga used the biggest throw of her career — her mark of 69.49 meters (228 feet) was a 4-meter improvement over her previous best — to edge Allman.

The Hawaiian-born, California-raised Tausaga was just as shocked as anyone.

“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,” Tausaga said. “No one was expecting me and I just showed up.”

Iowa track and field coach Joey Woody was proud of his former athlete.

“Lagi is the most humble and amazing person ...” he said in a news release. “She has worked her way through many ups and downs of being a post-collegiate athlete, but she has continued to keep her constant focus and dedication to her goals of winning a World Championship title.

“She is one of the best competitors we’ve ever had in our program, and she showed that with how she came back from a couple of fouls in the preliminary before throwing a personal best to earn three more throws.”

Tausaga was an eight-time All-American, 2021 USTFCCCA Outdoor Midwest Regional Female Athlete of the Year, 2020 USTFCCCA Indoor Midwest Regional Female Field Athlete of the Year, five-time Big Ten champion and 2020 Big Ten Indoor Female Field Athlete of the Year.