Heike Drechsler is left behind
German long jump-ace Mihambo breaks record
08.02.2025 – 07:14 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
After her fight with a corona infection, long jumper Malaika Mihambo starts again in the new year. Now she immediately set a personal record.
Malaika Mihambo set a strong sign at the athletics meeting in Karlsruhe. The Olympic second of the LG Kurpfalz jumped 7.07 meters in the Europahalle and thus stopped its personal hall best. At the same time, she exceeded Heike Drechsler’s meeting engraver, which had come to 7.06 meters in 1994. Mikaelle Assani from Baden-Baden took second place with 6.79 meters.
“I was very happy, I hadn’t expected to set my personal best here and jump world best,” said Mihambo. “But it had indicated. I’m in a very good mood and I am happy that I am fit,” she added.
Already at the start of the season in January in Dortmund, she had convinced with 6.79 meters. It was her first competition after the Olympic Games in Paris, where she had won silver by a Corona infection. Then she had to be brought out of the stadium in a wheelchair and refrained from further competitions. The former world champion fought with the health consequences until the Advent season.
In Karlsruhe, the traditional bounce beam was jumped, but at the ISTAF-Indoor meeting in Düsseldorf on Sunday (from 11:35 a.m.), Mihambo could jump further. Instead of the classic 20-centimeter bar, a 40 centimeter long “take-off zone” is available to the athletes.
“I am happy to try it out,” said Mihambo. It is important to test new opportunities to develop athletics further. The questions are crucial: “Does it make sense? Is that exciting? Does it make it better?”