IT’S NOT OFTEN that High School Indoor Records in field events fall. Before this season, the last prep boy to break an indoor jump or throw standard was — you may have heard of him — vaulter Mondo Duplantis in ’18.
At last, the long dry spell is over. This past Sunday (January 25) at the Spokane HS Invitational triple jumper Yevhen Zhmailo, a senior at Lake Washington High in Kirkland, Washington, leaped 52-9½ (16.09) to take down the oldest indoor record on the high school books. (His first name rhymes with “Kevin,” or closer still “heaven.”)
The previous standard — 52-7½ (16.04) by Keith Holley (Bayside, Virginia Beach, Virginia) — had stood for 38 years, since ’88. When Zhmailo was born in December of ’08, the record was already 2 decades old.
In that sense, the news came like a bolt from the blue, although not for Zhmailo. A Ukrainian émigré who arrived with his parents and siblings to the U.S. in ’22, he led the ’25 high school list with 52-¾ (15.87), the mark that carried him to victory at last summer’s Nike Outdoor Nationals. Thus, though the ’26 season is young, for Zhmailo his latest improvement was not unexpected.
“I think I can jump even farther,” he says. “I was expecting to jump 50 to 53 this indoor season, so…”
He had jumped 51-6½ two weeks earlier in a series where that was the only fair jump. In Spokane, he went 51-1 on his first jump, fouled his second, hit the record on his third and added a 51-5½ in round 5.
The eye-opener of his career for Zhmailo, who spanned 35ft in his first TJ comp as a frosh 3 years ago, came last year, his first season with the GLS Speed TC and coaches Tatum Taylor (guide for his speed development) and Alanna Coker (his jumps mentor). After jumping 46-11¾ (14.32) indoors in February, he improved to 48-0.
And then came his breakthrough at the Eason Invitational in Snohomish last April.
“I jumped from like 47 feet to 50 feet and a couple of times I fouled 51-foot jumps,” Zhmailo remembers. “That was the meet where I jumped my first 24 [footer] in the long jump. Yeah, it was the meet that showed me that I can jump far.”
Coker, a former triple jumper herself, had seen Zhmailo’s potential all along. Technique-wise, “he definitely didn’t need too much,” says the coach. “I think just the right setting for him and a healthy environment and training with other people who are like his speed. And then just more jumping and then drills as well have helped. He has the technical part down. He’s a very smart and talented kid, so it’s just little fine-tuning things.”
Zhmailo was growing, too, to 6-3 this season. Under Tatum’s coaching, he has clipped his 60 time from 7.34 in ’25 to 6.96 this season.
“Obviously, being a jumper and being 0.4 seconds faster over 60m alone is very helpful on the jump side,” Coker says. “But it’s not just his speed. I know Yevhen’s had more technical training, I would say, as opposed to being by himself [in the past].”
Zhmailo — whose favorite jumpers to watch on film are Jordan Díaz, Jonathan Edwards and Pablo Pichardo — knows his speed is his friend. “I’m trying to run 100% on the runway,” he says. “But it’s mostly a different run… because in the triple jump I try to put my knees a little bit higher than in the 60. Yeah, it’s a little bit different, but I’m trying still run 100% on the runway.”
Track & field wasn’t Zhmailo’s first sport — not until his dad, also named Yevhen Zhmailo and a long jumper and short sprinter in his younger days, had a word with his son.
“I was doing MMA [mixed martial arts] for all my life before track, but then my father came to me and said, ‘You need to do track.’ I’m like, ‘OK, let’s try.’ And then, yeah, I was doing track for one or two years in Ukraine.”
At the Spokane meet, Zhmailo hit a long jump PR, 24-6¼ (7.47), the day before his TJ record.
“I have big goals for long jump too,” he says. “I think 25 [feet]. I’m trying to hit 25 in this season, and then maybe 25, 26 in the outdoor season.”
Along the way as his senior year unfolds, Zhmailo plans to compete in the Nike Indoor and Outdoor prep national meets, and has already had conversations with the Ukrainian federation about representing his homeland at the World U20 Champs (Eugene, August 05–09) this summer.
When he heads off to college next fall, he’ll land at Oklahoma — an easy choice for him after he visited Norman last fall.
“Great coaches,” were the draw. He says, “The school mostly has field events, not that much sprints and long distance, just field events. So many jumpers. There’s two good coaches.”
While the Sooners’ ’25 NCAA TJ champion, Brandon Green, will likely have graduated, and their NCAA runner-up jumper Floyd Whitaker already has graduated, Zhmailo can expect to train alongside current NCAA long jump leader Kennedy Stringfellow in his frosh season.
That will be next year. Of ’26 Coker says, “We have a long season and I think Yevhen is capable of bringing a lot more records here in the future.”
