She did it again. And how! What nerves this woman has is, you can put it so euphorically, madness. Because just as Malaika Mihambo freed herself from non-existence at the World Championships in Eugene, she has now done so again on the biggest stages of world sport. No matter how close she came to failure, in the end she was the one who triumphed. This was also the case on Sunday afternoon on the sun-drenched Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, with which she was able to at least add some gold to the German team's disastrous performance.
Thoughts of the world championship three years ago in Doha came up when Malaika Mihambo, like now as the defending champion, had invalidated the first two attempts in the final. One more mistake and she would have had to watch the finale as a spectator. But a Malaika Mihambo is not made of this flesh and blood.
In the desert metropolis, the three-time Sportswoman of the Year flew to 7.30 meters when it definitely mattered, which means that the title could no longer be taken away from her. In the northwest of the USA it was only 6.98 meters, which catapulted her into second place behind Ese Brume from Nigeria (7.02 m). More importantly, it gave her three more ways to attack, which she did in Grand Champion Styles. With 7.09 meters, she had taken the lead in the fourth round, which she was able to extend by three centimeters in the last jump. World Championship gold with a best performance of the season in the most important competition of the year - that's all it takes.
Just like a year ago at the summer games in Tokyo. Even if the constellation was a little different, she also impressively demonstrated her mental strength there. Lying on the bronze rank, she still had Olympic gold in the final round with a seven-meter leap. fetched
The old and new title holder said she would have gladly spared herself and all those who kept their fingers crossed for this renewed thrill. Despite this do-or-die situation, she was absolutely convinced that she would be able to master it again. "I didn't doubt myself for a second, rather I calmed down," explained the 28-year-old, as she did not lose sight of her focus on the essentials. "I've built a lot of self-confidence over the years. This made me sure that the third attempt would be successful - it doesn't matter whether I jump off the board or not, as long as it's valid."
Nevertheless, Mihambo admitted that the competition had been "very strenuous". Although she felt good, at some point she also felt a certain tiredness. Under these circumstances, she said happily, her winning distance was okay. "Of course I would have liked to have jumped further, which is not an illusion, as the past has shown, but it shouldn't be." What counted today was defending the title. That makes her performance special, because that's "the queen's discipline."
When the high-flyer got her gold medal after a shower of confetti in the colors of the Star Spangled Banner and the German national anthem sounded, she no longer felt the stress of the competition. With her eyes closed, she listened to the sounds of Joseph Haydn and went deep into herself. “I reviewed the competition and felt very lucky because I was developing again. Because as an athlete, I've proven once again how solid I am in life and how it survives," she gave a little insight into her world of thoughts.
After her success at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, the 2019 World Cup gold and the Olympic victory, this is now the fourth major title in her impressive career. As a two-time world champion, Mihambo draws level with her role model Heike Drechsler, who won the world title fights in 1983 and 1993. At the European Championships in three weeks in Munich, the political scientist, whose mother is from Germany and whose father is from Zanzibar, would of course like to shine again as number one.
But it is not a must. That's the nice thing about her current sport, that she "no longer has to prove anything to anyone, so I can go into the competitions much more relaxed," she asserted. Her looseness should make her “jump even better and, above all, further”. She is 22 centimeters short of the world record set by the Russian Galina Tschistjakowa in the summer of 1988.
At the World Championships, the American Sydney McLaughlin over 400 meters hurdles with her fabulous time of 50.68 seconds, the Nigerian Tobi Amusan over 100 meters hurdles in 12.12 seconds and pole vaulter Armand Duplantis from Sweden showed that it is possible to advance into new spheres proved that he flew over 6.21 meters. "If I continue to improve, a lot is still possible," said Mihambo, who should constantly kiss the feet of the national association.
Without Mihambo's reliability and the sensational third place for the women's sprint relay, German athletics would be empty-handed. 19th place in the medal ranking, which the hosts clearly won with 13 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze places, is the worst result in the 39-year history of the World Cup. It had previously existed in Paris in 2003 - with one silver and three bronze.
The fiasco was completed by the fact that apart from the two medal wins there were only five places in the top eight, which are decisive for the financial support of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. After fourth place for javelin thrower Julian Weber (86.86 m) and fifth place for discus thrower Claudine Vita (64.24 m), pole vaulters Oleg Zernikel and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre took fifth and seventh place on the final day with a jump of 5.87 m , defending champion Niklas Kaul (8434 points) was sixth in the decathlon.
"There's nothing to sugarcoat, we're not satisfied with the outcome of the World Cup and we didn't expect that," was the depressing conclusion of head coach Annett Stein. "The goal was to retrieve the medal potential and to improve the result of the Olympic Games.". Three medals were won in Tokyo. In Eugene, 40 to 45 percent of the 80 German athletes would not have been able to call up their performance, Stein explained. The reason for this is still unclear and will be analyzed as soon as possible. There may be personnel consequences after the historic debacle. Nobody wanted to comment on that. You will have to go a long way before hopefully more successes will come again. "A crime scene can be shot in 90 minutes. That's not the case with us," said association president Jürgen Kessing.
The SPD politician firmly believes that there will be "more tailwind" at the European Championships on the Isar. I would wish if we could achieve a double-digit medal result," said the 65-year-old, who also saw Mihambos' title defense only "as a nice touch" on the balance sheet. The fact that there was no big party for the "savior of the association" was not due to the dreary atmosphere in the team. No, Malaika Mihambo just wanted to be left alone and pack her bags, because her plane to Germany left at five o'clock local time on Monday morning.
