Malaika Mihambo injured herself in the long jump at the Athletics Championships in Kassel

The second was a turbulent day at the German championship. Alexandra Burghardt, European champion with the sprint relay and Olympic silver medalist in bobsleigh, wanted to quietly end the season in Kassel after giving up the hundred-meter run with the final over 200 meters – and suddenly, in 23.36 seconds, was champion. Over the same distance, Joshua Hartmann beat Tobias Unger’s 18-year-old German record by 18 hundredths of a second: 20.02 seconds with the promise of beating 20 seconds this year.

The turbulent race over 5000 meters surprisingly won for 10,000 spectators and also for himself Florian Bremm (13:35.65 minutes). One day after her victory over 5000 meters, Lea Meyer also became champion over 3000 meters steeplechase, the discipline in which she is second at the European Championships. Christoph Harting, Olympic champion in Rio 2016, made a comeback after a year-and-a-half low in depression as third in the discus with 62.87 meters.

And Malaika Mihambo, Olympic and world long jump champion, set out to surpass seven meters for the first time this year. In the first and third attempt, she landed at 6.93 meters, the title was her. And so the 29-year-old athlete sprinted faster than she had in a long time – and stopped the attempt. She limped, allowed herself to be supported by a competitor and finally sank to the ground on the rail. She cooled her left thigh with ice as she stared into space.

Malaika Mihambo injured – that would be something like the greatest misfortune for athletics in Germany. At that moment, this could be felt in the Auestadion in Kassel. Suddenly it became quiet in the arena. Malaika Mihambo, gold favorite at the Budapest World Championships in August, must not miss out. The title, her third, is expected of no other German athlete as much as of her.

New record over 200 meters: Joshua Hartmann: Image: dpa

And so it was up to the athlete to confidently calm people down and clear up worries – which she certainly has herself. “There’s still a lot of time until Budapest and this isn’t a super-serious injury either,” she assured when she hobbled to the award ceremony with a pressure bandage around her thigh and then went to the mixed zone with the journalists: “You just have to recover from it; it will be fine again.” Malaika Mihambo has the ability to take things. At the European Championships in Munich last year, she collapsed after finishing second after barely recovering from a corona infection. She couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t stick your head in the sand”

This time she gave sovereign information. An ultrasound scan revealed evidence of a serious injury; further diagnoses only make sense on Wednesday. “If I’m lucky, it’s nothing,” she said. “If I’m unlucky, it’s a strain or even a torn muscle fiber.” The cold at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm last week was probably the cause of the muscular irritation said Mihambo. From the competition there at only 13 degrees Celsius, she returned home with thigh pain. It’s possible, she said, that the heat and a possible lack of electrolytes triggered this muscle response. She reacted calmly to questions and concerns: “I can’t bury my head in the sand now; it doesn’t heal the thigh faster. Worrying doesn’t help healing either.”

Michael Reinsch, Kassel Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Michael Reinsch, Kassel Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7 Achim Dreis Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 3

The upcoming training break comes inconveniently. Due to illness, Malaika Mihambo started preparing for the season later than planned. During the run-up, she returned to the uncompromising sprint as in the year of her first world championship win, 2019 in Doha, and thus returned to her jumps of 7.30 meters. Not only is she the fastest in the world, she hits the take-off board with greater precision than in previous years.

Kassel showed that she was on the right track. Nevertheless, she took off ten centimeters too early in one of her two championship jumps, so that she calculated: “That was seven meters net.” So she has the distance down. She is currently doing well in the competitions and knows that she has remained below her potential so far: “It’s a shame that I’m being slowed down like this.”

She doesn’t allow herself to think any further, not even about Budapest: “I’m trying not to despair or be sad or afraid that it might not work out.” She leaves the hope and anxiety to the fans.