INDIANAPOLIS -- Winning a pair of World Indoor Tour Gold meets in the men's shot put, Jordan Geist (Phoenix, AZ/USATF Inland Northwest) earned recognition as the fifth USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2026.
The NCAA indoor and outdoor champion for Arizona in 2023 and a bronze (2023) and silver (2019) medalist at the last two Pan American Games, Geist set a lifetime best with a world-leading 22.04/72-3.75 to win at Ostrava, Czechia, and then matched that distance to take top honors at the Madrid WIT meet. Those throws put Geist at No. 9 on the all-time U.S. indoor performer list. Other top performances from last week:
Garrett Kaalund of USC moved to No. 6 on the all-time world performer list in the men's indoor 200 with a 20.12 to win at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic.
Cole Hocker ran the fourth fastest indoor 1000 ever by an American, clocking 2:16.30 at the Doc Hale Invitational at Virginia Tech.
Charity Hufnagel set a lifetime best of 1.96/6-5 to win the women's high jump at the Madrid World Indoor Tour meet.
Now in its 25th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
2026 Winners: January 15, Jonathan Simms; January 22, Michelle Rohl; January 29, Josh Hoey; February 5, Roisin Willis; February 12, Jordan Geist.
We welcome your nominations!
To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about their performance to communications@usatf.org.
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Photo by Kiko Kováč