By Zim Sport Live Writer
Zimbabwean long jump star Tafadzwa “Tah” Chikomba has received major recognition in the United States after being named the Big 12 Men’s Athlete of the Week for indoor track and field.
The Kansas State junior becomes the first athlete from the university to win the indoor weekly honour since 2020, and only the 15th in the programme’s history to achieve the feat — a milestone moment that has also put Zimbabwean athletics in the spotlight.
The award follows a stunning performance at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational held in Manhattan, Kansas on January 30, a World Athletics Bronze-level meet that attracted elite international competition.
On that stage, Chikomba produced a massive 8.09m leap to win the men’s long jump. The distance not only secured victory but placed him among the very best jumpers in the NCAA this season.
As of early February, the mark ranks second in the NCAA, leads the Big 12 conference, and is listed by World Athletics as one of the top performances globally in the indoor season.
The jump came just shy of his lifetime best of 8.10m, highlighting the remarkable consistency the Zimbabwean has shown at the highest level of collegiate competition.
Chikomba’s indoor campaign had already begun on a strong note earlier in January at the Thane Baker Invitational, where he won the long jump with a short-approach mark of 7.83m — now the third best indoor jump in Kansas State history.
At the same meet, he demonstrated his sprinting speed by clocking 6.72 seconds in the 60m, a time that also ranks among the fastest ever recorded at the school.
Before transferring to Kansas State, Chikomba built an impressive record at Meridian Community College in the NJCAA, where he won multiple national titles and earned First Team All-American honours in both indoor and outdoor competitions across the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
His personal bests underline his versatility as a horizontal jumps specialist with speed to match.
He owns a long jump best of 8.10m, ran 10.18 seconds in the 100m, and has a triple jump personal best of 15.19m.
With the Big 12 accolade secured, Chikomba and his Kansas State teammates now turn their focus to the prestigious Tyson Invitational in Arkansas on February 13–14.