Olympic long jump champion Malaika Mihambo will not be able to challenge for a third straight World title after she misses next month’s World Athletics Championships. The German ends the season early due to an injury. A “small muscle fiber tear” sustained recently was the reason for the decision.
“I’m very sad that the season won’t go according to plan and that I won’t be able to compete at the World Championships in Budapest. As I saw at the German Championships, I was in absolute top form heading into the World Championships and I wanted to show that in Budapest”, said Malaika Mihambo.
She was the German team’s best hope for a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which will be helpd from August 19 to 27. At the championships in Eugene (USA) last year, Malaika Mihambo brought the only title for the country, as well as one of the two medals. The other was the 4x100m relay. Before that, she took the gold in Doha 2019.
Malaika Mihambo won a seventh national title with a season personal best of 6.93m on July 2 before withdrawing from the event due to injury. The diagnosis became clear a few days later, but there is not enough time for her to recover for Budapest, where the qualifiers are scheduled for August 19 and the final for the following day. The German said she wanted to recover “to give everything again next year at the European Championships in Rome and at the Olympic Games in Paris. That’s my goal”.
Malaika Mihambo became the Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020 Olympics 2021 and in Paris she can become the first woman to win two consecutive gold medals in the discipline.
