Malcolm Clemons was poised to dominate in 2025.
Already a three-time First Team All-American, he entered his final collegiate season with plenty of momentum because of a shiny new title attached to his name: Olympian.
Clemons secured his spot on the United States long jump team for the Paris Olympics on his final attempt at the Olympic Trials, finishing second in the country and etching his name into the history books.
“There’s nothing to lose at that point,” Clemons said. “This is the goal that I’ve chased, and I just wanted to go for it and give one good go at it. I put my all into that one jump, so I think that was just everything I asked for at that moment.”
His first meet of the season, the Corky Classic at Texas Tech on Jan. 17, went according to plan. He was the top collegian in the field by a 20-centimeter margin and had three attempts at or beyond 7.70 meters. His performance wasn’t spectacular, but it was a strong opening performance for a season that the redshirt senior hopes will run through the World Championships at the end of September.
In the days following the competition, however, he felt some soreness in his left heel, which is his takeoff foot.
“I thought it might have just been a heel bruise,” Clemons said. “I kept practicing on it, and then it developed into more.”
The impact of injury and the road back
Clemons saw out the remainder of the indoor season, but he wasn’t himself. His season ended with an unceremonious 10th-place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships, failing to qualify for nationals for the first time since 2022.
Given the nature of his injury, the only remedy was rest. Clemons didn’t take a single jump for three weeks after the indoor season concluded. He dedicated his time to cross training methods like an arc trainer or an anti-gravity treadmill. His aim was to maintain his level of fitness while keeping weight and pressure off the problem area in his heel.
“It’s such a unique thing to horizontal jumpers,” Florida jumps coach Nic Petersen said. “You’d think it’d be so simple, but it’s just not. It’s pervasive, it hangs out, it goes away, it comes back. It was a nagging thing, I’m just sure glad it’s gone.”
Long jump is a discipline that is often characterized by rhythm, building consistency with jumps not just in practice, but in competition as well. While the time off was effective in terms of recovery, it meant Clemons faced an uphill battle to be a true contender in the NCAA postseason.
In the first competition of the outdoor season, Clemons finished seventh in an eight-man field at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on April 18. His best mark of 7.30 meters was the second-worst across his 32 collegiate long jump competitions. Even though the distance wasn’t reflective of the quality of jumper Clemons can be, it served an important role to simply get his feet wet in competition once again.
“The long jump’s a tricky thing,” Petersen said after the meet. “If you haven’t done it in a long time, you don’t know what it feels like. So we’ve just got to get him a few more opportunities, get him a little bit more comfortable… and he’s going to be fine.”
Capitalizing on his final postseason
His next opportunity on the runway came May 3 two weeks later at the LSU Invitational, where he took a commanding win, jumping a season’s best of 7.82 meters. Not only did he exceed his prior performances, but Clemons out-jumped Georgia freshman Jayden Keys, the SEC Indoor champion.
That performance built momentum as Clemons moved into the final SEC Outdoor Championships of his career, hosted by Kentucky May 15 to 17. Redemption was on the mind not just for Clemons, but for the whole of the men’s team, which finished last in the team race indoors.
Clemons immediately made a statement on the runway in Lexington, recording his three best jumps of the season – 7.88, 7.91 and 7.86 meters – to take the lead. He looked positioned to capture the first conference or national title of his career, but both Keys and South Carolina senior Channing Ferguson moved ahead of Clemons with their final jumps.
“Even though I had the expectation to go and win, it’s not always up to me,” Clemons said. “Some things I can’t control. Being able to feel closer to normal is giving me a lot more confidence going into the end of this season. I’ll be able to put out some good performances, I think.”
Heading into the postseason, Florida’s coaching staff has placed an emphasis on athletes having a greater control over the psychological aspect of competition. One message has permeated across the entire program in the lead-in to the postseason: Focus on factors you can control and don’t allow the things you can’t to overwhelm you.
“Just be who you are,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “That’s the message I give to the team, to my staff, everybody involved in this program. Let’s just go be the Gators, we’ll be fine.”
Reflecting on the career of a program cornerstone
From the day Clemons stepped on campus in Gainesville, he’s been a major contributor to a historic team. The Florida men won the outdoor national championship each of the last three years, with Clemons contributing significant points to the last two. Last year, his six points from a third-place finish helped separate Florida from runners-up Auburn in a contest that was decided by a single point.
Clemons has contributed 65 points for the Gators across 13 conference or national championship appearances in both the long and triple jumps. At a program that has earned the moniker of “Jumps U,” he stands as the fourth-best performer ever, indoors or outdoors.
“It’s just been a lot of history that I’ve been able to follow in the footsteps of,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of great athletes in my time here, and just being able to be a part of that history and build on it and win championships with the team, it’s just been a great experience being here for all this time.”
These next few weeks will be bittersweet, Clemons said. The excitement of the national postseason and competing for both individual and team glory is in full force, but that comes with acknowledging the close to this chapter of his life. It won’t be as much of an adjustment for him, though, as he plans to follow the well-worn path of his former teammates that have stayed in Gainesville to train with Petersen as professionals.
It’s been nearly six years since Clemons committed to Florida, and his relationship with Petersen both as an athlete and a person has developed into one he called “family-like.” Petersen echoed similar sentiments about one of the longest-tenured jumpers he’s worked with.
“He’s grown in a lot of ways,” he said. “Physically, mentally, emotionally, I mean, watching him graduate and take care of business in the classroom — he’s grown tremendously in all ways.”
In a season like the Gators have had in 2025, the coaching staff values athletes it can rely on to lead the team from within. Holloway acknowledges the duty that falls on Clemons. He’ll never be the most outspoken in a meeting room, but he sets the tone in his own, equally important way.
“Malcolm leads by example,” Holloway said. “He leads with his incredible work ethic, he’s the guy who’s on time. He’s kind, he’s courteous… When I think of Florida track and field, it’s Malcolm Clemons.”
Clemons will compete in the East Regional Preliminary Round on May 28 at 4:30 p.m. If he finishes inside the top 12, he will punch a ticket to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, held June 11 to 14.
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney.
Paul is a junior sports journalism major who is covering the track and field beat in his first semester with the Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys watching commentary Youtube channels and consuming every medium of track and field content imaginable.
