Malaika Mihambo is unstoppable: she remains the best long jumper in the world. The German athlete has again secured the world championship title.
Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo won her next gold medal at the World Championships in Eugene. With 7.12 m, Germany’s Sportswoman of the Year successfully defended her title in the long jump and prevailed over Ese Brume from Nigeria (7.02), bronze went to the Brazilian Leticia Oro Melo (6.89).
“I wanted to keep jumping, I can. But I’m so happy that I defended my title,” said Mihambo after a nerve-wracking competition. After two failed attempts, she narrowly avoided an early end with the third jump of 6.98 m. In round four, the woman from Heidelberg took the lead with 7.09 and went one better in the last lap – by then she was already the world champion.
Mihambo, unbeaten at major outdoor events since her 2018 European Championship triumph in Berlin, took the second medal for the German team in Eugene, the first in gold. Mihambo is the first European to have been world long jump champion at least twice in a row. Only the Americans Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1987/1991) and Brittney Reese (2009/2011/2013) had managed to do this.