 Mihambo in 2022 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | German |
| Born | (1994-02-03)3 February 1994 (age 31)[1] |
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] |
| Weight | 58 kg (128 lb)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Germany |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Long jump |
| Coached by | Ulrich Knapp[3] Ralf Weber (until2019/Doha)[4] |
Medal record | |
Malaika Mihambo (German:[maˈlaɪ̯kamiːˈhamboː]ⓘ; born 3 February 1994) is a Germanathlete, 2020Olympic champion and 2022world champion inlong jump. At the2024 Summer Olympics, Mihambo added a silver medal in thelong jump.
Mihambo's athletic career began around 2009, when at the age of 15 she became the German under-16 champion with the heptathlon team. She also set the best performance, with the 4 × 100 meters relay team that lasted until 2018.[5] In the long jump she finished ninth at the2011 World Youth Championships, then competed at the2012 World Junior Championships and the2013 World Championships, without reaching the final. She also won the gold medal at the2013 European Junior Championships, and finished fourth at the2014 European Championships.
Her first senior major event Mihambo won at the2014 European Team Championships, setting the new championship record with a jump of 6.90 meters. In 2015, she won the gold medal at theEuropean U23 Championships and finished sixth at theWorld Championships. She narrowly missed a medal at the2016 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth, but won the bronze medal at the2016 European Athletics Championships. Then a serious foot injury ruined her preparations for the2017 World Championships. After difficult months with an uncertain sporting future the injury was overcome,[6] and she finished fifth at theWorld Indoor Championships.
With the gold medal at the2018 European Athletics Championships, Mihambo's star began to rise into the world's top long jump. In 2019, she had her most successful season so far with a series of jumps over 7 meters.[7][8] She won theIAAF Diamond League and becameworld champion for the first time. In 2021 Mihambo crowned Olympic champion at theSummer Olympics inTokyo with a jump of 7.00 meters,[9] beatingBrittney Reese andEse Brume, both with 6.97 meters. Mihambo experienced the preliminary highlight of her career as the first European to become world champion in the long jump at least twice in a row – at the2022 World Athletics Championships she defended her world title from 2019 with aSB of 7.12 meters and won the gold medal again. This also makes her the first long jumper ever to win at the world's most important track and field competitions four times in consecutive years.[10] The streak came to an end during the2022 European Championships - ailing in health but with a huge support of the home crowd, Mihambo managed a 7.03 m leap to finish silver, whileIvana Vuleta(SRB) became the new European champion with 3 cm more;Jazmin Sawyers (representingEngland) won the bronze medal (6.80 m).
Mihambo's personal best in the long jump is 7.30 meters, achieved on October 6 at the2019 World Championships in Doha; since then, this distance has not been surpassed by any female jumper. The foundations of her success are essentially a kind of symbiotic interaction with physics and sports teacher Ralf Weber, who had been accompanying her as a coach since she was ten years old. Both developed their extensive skills together by supporting each other within a manageably small family environment, as well as permanently incorporating international experience into their training. The club she represents is theLG (Track and Field Community)Kurpfalz.[11]
Her mother Petra Mihambo-Fichtner is German and her father is Tanzanian; she grew up and went to school in the municipality of Oftersheim.[12] Mihambo studied political science at theUniversity of Mannheim on a sports scholarship, graduating in 2016.[13] Since April 2019, she has been studying in the postgraduate master's program in environmental sciences at theUniversity of Hagen and is involved in a social project for children.[14][15] On 15 December 2020, Mihambo was named “Germany's Sportswoman of the Year“ for the third time in a row; a world best of 7.03 meters on the athletic level was followed by special recognition for her social commitment to helping children and families get into athletics on the one hand and social contacts on the other.[16][17]
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| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | German Sportswoman of the Year 2019 | Succeeded by Incumbent |
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European Athletics Championships champions in women'slong jump | |
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| International | |
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| People | |
