OOlympic champion Malaika Mihambo has made a promising start to the World and European Championship year. The 28-year-old long jumper from LG Kurpfalz won the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham on Saturday with a jump of 7.09 meters in her fourth attempt. In the last attempt she again stayed over the seven meter mark with 7.06 meters.
Mihambo has not started an outdoor season better in recent years. Before her 2019 World Cup victory in Doha/Qatar, she had started the season at 6.81 meters, before the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo she had come 6.68 meters.
“I’m happy with the start,” said Mihambo. “And I’m glad it’s going that way again.” At the Tokyo Games, the three-time “Sportswoman of the Year” won gold with 7.00 meters. She had secured the world title with 7.30 meters. Her big goals for the season are the World Championships from July 15th to 24th in Eugene and the European Championships at home from August 15th to 21st in Munich.
Hanna Klein breaks the World Cup norm
Both title fights are also the target of long-distance runner Hanna Klein, who provided another outstanding performance at the Alexander Stadium. The 29-year-old from Tübingen finished fifth in the 5,000 meters with a personal best of 14:51.71 minutes. She already cracked the World Cup norm. “I can not believe it. Really cool,” Klein said.
It is the third best time by a German runner over this distance. Only Konstanze Klosterhalfen (14:26.76 minutes) and Irina Mikitenko (14:42.03) ran faster before. Only in the final sprint did the Ethiopian runners pull away. The winner was Dawit Seyaum in 14:47.55 minutes. Sara Benfares from Rehlingen finished ninth in 15:25.74 minutes. Christina Hering from Munich finished sixth over 800 meters in 2:00.82 minutes.
World record for Kappel
At the thrower meeting in Halle, Kristin Pudenz and Niko Kappel made sure of the outstanding performances. The discus thrower from SC Potsdam threw the disc at 66.11 meters and relegated local hero Shanice Craft (63.28) and Neubrandenburg’s Claudine Vita (61.43) to the other places. Pudenz cracked the World Cup norm. Craft and Vita met the target for the start at the European Championships in Munich.
Shot putter Sara Gambetta (Halle/Saale) also met the World Cup standard (18.50 meters), but with her distance of 18.62 meters she did not make it onto the podium in fourth place. Chase Ealey (USA) won with 19.76 meters in front of Auriol Dongmo (Portugal/19.09) and the Swede Fanny Roos (18.72). Christin Hussong (Zweibrücken) won the javelin throw, but missed the targets for the two major events this year with 62.33 meters.
Paralympic champion Niko Kappel provided the second highlight at this meeting. The man from Stuttgart improved the world record in shot put in class F41 by 63 centimeters to 14.94 meters.
