It’ll likely become a trivia question for the ages. What do a former NFL wide receiver and a track and field athlete have in common? The wide receiver in question happens to be Marquise Goodwin, the last man to win back-to-back USATF outdoor championship titles in the long jump. Now, fourteen years on since Goodwin did it, Isaac Grimes stepped up to the plate hoping to break the long-standing duck, and he did.

The 27-year-old soared to his second national title and became the first American to win back-to-back USATF Championship long jump titles since 2012. And the result rarely ever looked in doubt from the get-go for Grimes.

The American star took the lead with his very first leap, jumping to 7.85m. Malcom Clemons (7.45 m), Steffin McCarter (7.81 m) and Kemonie Briggs (7.64 m) tried but didn’t come close. The reigning 110m hurdles world champion Cordell Tinch responded with his second attempt, jumping to 7.74 m.

However, despite that, Grimes was still in the lead with nobody coming close to his mark even in their third attempt. Attempt four was where things changed as Clemons hit 7.98m, McCarter 7.97m and Tinch 7.80m before Grimes stepped up to the plate. The pressure was on but the reigning USATF champion took it in his stride and broke the 8m barrier, hitting 8.16m.

That gave him the lead again, and Clemons followed him across the barrier with 8.06m. By that point, it was all over as nobody could keep up. But Clemons still improved his mark to 8.07m in the final jump.

Isaac Grimes did the same, hitting a season best of 8.18m. That was more than enough for him to secure his first back-to-back title and, more importantly, hit his stride. After all, the 27-year-old had crossed the 8.13m barrier for the first time in four years. In fact, his winning leap of 8.18m will rank as his joint fourth career best ever even if he hadn’t come close to that mark since 2021.

That marked arguably Grimes’ best year as an athlete when he broke the 8.30m barrier not once but twice. What makes that rather special is the fact that only 18 men in the 2020s have leapt to a higher mark than Grimes. Out of those 18, only three happen to be American.

Now, however, Grimes has the longest legal outdoor mark of his career. It bettered the outdoor personal best he had set at the 2025 USATF Championships. Reflecting on that performance, Grimes explained why it had been such an important step in his career.

Isaac Grimes reflects on his previous personal best

With the exception of two long-jumpers, American jumpers haven’t quite lived up to their potential since the 2010s. In fact, outside Dwight Phillips, Jeff Henderson and Jarrion Lawson, no long-jumper since the 2010s has even made the top ten. What’s even more shocking is the fact that only nine make the top 35, with Grimes rounding out the pack.

However, that mark includes both outdoor and indoor leaps, with Grimes jumping to a personal best of 8.33m in 2021. His outdoor record, however, has always been in question, with the now 27-year-old struggling to post equivalent figures. He hit 8.09 in June at the US Olympic trials and slowly built up to it before leaping to a personal best of 8.15m.

That was despite an onslaught of competition from Jeremiah Davis, Marquis Dendy and Jarrion Lawson, all of whom put up impressive fights. Grimes held on and, on his final jump, hit his leap perfectly for his personal outdoor best. Not just that, it also meant that he won his first national title at the USATF outdoor Championships.

“I told myself before that last jump, ‘Just put it on the board.’ If I did that, I knew I could go far,” Grimes said in 2025 (via TrackandFieldnews.com). “I don’t think this [the win] has really kicked in yet. I’ve had a lot of injuries from 2021 until now. My coach [Keith Herston] told me it was going to come together today, and it did.” 

Four years after his last jump beyond 8.13m, Isaac Grimes has finally paired elite distance with the consistency. In doing so, he didn’t just defend his national title; he ended a 14-year wait for an American to achieve the feat.