By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Defying gravity is what Kimani Jack tries to do every day. And the Georgia track and field high jumper is very good at it.

“Because I had the speed and because I had the jumping ability, when I was a kid, I sort of found myself in the high jump, which I really enjoyed,” he said. “I really, really enjoyed learning about it, as well, because it is a complicated event. … We’re trying to sort of avoid gravity, in a sense, and I really, really enjoyed learning about that.”

At the SEC Indoor Championships last month, the graduate student from London, England, in his first season with the Bulldogs, won the high jump with a leap of 7 feet 5.75 inches, tying the school indoor record set by Keenon Laine at the 2019 SEC meet. Heading into this week’s NCAA Indoor Championships, Jack’s best mark is the best in the country this season. 

“I think it was a really great experience,” Jack said of winning the SEC title. “I think when you’re doing something that’s more than just your own individual performance, when you’re performing for the team, it’s a really great feeling to feel like you’re contributing to something bigger.”

This is Jack’s first year of collegiate athletics in the United States, and his first time being a part of something as intensive as a college sports team. He has competed for Great Britain in the past, including at the senior European Athletics Team Championships in 2025, where he placed seventh in the high jump. But his experience with the whole Georgia track and field team, training daily with dozens of teammates and experiencing everything with them, has made a deep impression on him.

“I think the culture here is different to back home, especially in terms of universities,” he said. “I think the emphasis on the team and what you’re doing to contribute to the team is a lot more here, and there is the pride of contributing to somewhere like Georgia.

“I’ve really enjoyed the sense of teamwork and contributing to something bigger than yourself. … We’re practicing and training together, and I see these people in the treatment room and in the locker room all the time, so I really, really know them. This is something that made me more proud to compete for Georgia — and the chemistry that I have with my teammates, that was something that was really special.”

Growing up in London, sports were a regular part of Jack’s life from a young age. He played a lot of soccer, some tennis, some rugby, and he didn’t really commit to track and field until around age 16. He said he’s glad he played all of those sports before focusing on the high jump.

“I was quite happy that I got the chance to sort of figure my journey out towards what I’m passionate about, which is high jump, because it allowed me to do different things and realize, OK, this is cool, this is what I really want to do,” he said.

Jack, like all elite high jumpers, does defy gravity for a while on each attempt. He also does something that almost seems impossible: Jack is 6-foot-2 and can clear a bar that is more than a foot above his head.

“Any time I watch the high jump,” Georgia teammate Skylynn Townsend, who won the SEC Indoor title in the long jump, said, “I’m like, I wish I could do that. They’re amazing.”

For Jack, who trains every day to clear that bar that’s way above his head, the feat is less mind-blowing.

“I think when you’re doing it, it doesn’t look as great as it does on video. But every time I go back to the world record,” which is just over 8 feet, set by Javier Sotomayor in 1993, “when I watch that, I’m amazed. He’s literally looking up at the bar, and then you’re seeing a human clear such a high height. And, obviously, that’s the goal. Everyone wants to break a world record, so I’m trying to work towards that step by step,” Jack said.

“Watching stuff like that does amaze me; seeing these guys be able to be very consistent on clearing such high heights is a goal that I definitely want to reach, and a goal that I’m definitely looking to do in the future.”

Jack dreams of world records and of competing at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. But there’s a lot he wants to do before then, starting this week at the NCAA Indoors.

“(The Olympics) are more of a long-term dream. It is in my mind, but I also understand that there are short-term goals that I have and want to achieve, especially for the university,” he said. “The focus is on the indoor nationals and just getting 10% better every day. That’s sort of the thing that we follow in our team, getting 10% better every day. Because once you do that, you can continue to grow and reach the things that you want to reach.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.