Prateek Tanmay
3 min readUpdated: Jun 13, 2026 02:34 PM IST
Indian triple jumper Selva Prabhu claimed the triple jump gold medal at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships in Eugene on Friday.
The 21-year-old from Madurai, Tamil Nadu leapt 16.92m in the final to top the 24-athlete field and win the title. He started with a jump of 16.20m in his attempt and then recorded 16.92m. He failed record a legal jump in the next four attempts but his second jump was good enough to make him the champion.
It was his second-best jump of the season, his best with a legal wind aide. On May 17 he earned the Big 12 Championship title at 17.19m with a wind aide of 4.6.
The triple jump crown belongs to Selva Prabhu 👑
Prabhu wins the event with a jump of 16.92m, becoming the first men’s outdoor triple jump champion for @KStateTFXC since 1986. #NCAATF x 🎥 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/IKHspLdnyF
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 13, 2026
He became the only second men’s outdoor triple jump champion for his University. Kenny Harrison previously won in 1986 with 17.06m.
“He just competed like the champion and the warrior that he is,” head coach Travis Geopfert said. “He went out there early, executed early, and won a national title for K-State. So that was a really, really big deal.”
This is his second medal at the NCAA Nationals this year, following Indoor Nationals in March, where he breached the 17-m mark for the first time to win a silver medal (17.05m).
With this title, Prabhu joins an elite list of Indians who won the NCAA division 1 outdoor titles. Mohinder Gill, Vikas Gowda, and Tejaswin Shankar in past have won the NCAA outdoor title while Lokesh Satyanathan won the indoor long jump title this year. This is also India’s first NCAA Outdoor title in four years, since Tejaswin Shankar’s high jump gold in 2022. Shankar had previously won the title in 2018 as well.
Selva joined the Kansas State University last year in January to complete his higher education. He is pursuing a degree in English literature.
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With his title, he has breached both Commonwealth Games qualification mark and Asian Games qualification mark set by the Athletics Federation of India. However, the final decision lies with the selection committee of AFI.
