- Mihambo wins Olympic silver in the long jump
Long Jumper Malaika Mihambo wins silver at the Olympic Games in Paris. Three years after winning gold in Tokyo, the 30-year-old finished second with a jump of 7.10 meters, twelve centimeters behind Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall. Another win would have made Mihambo the first woman in Olympic history to win gold twice in a row. The LG Kurpfalz athlete is also a two-time world and European champion.
Tokyo sixth takes top spot
This time, American Davis-Woodhall is at the top of the podium. The world championship runner-up won with a jump of 7.10 meters. In 2021 in Tokyo, the 25-year-old finished sixth. Bronze went to her American teammate Jasmine Moore with a jump of 6.96 meters.
German starters Mikaelle Assani and Laura Raquel Müller did not qualify for the final in Saint-Denis, Paris. German decathlete Leo Neugebauer secured the first German medal in athletics with silver.
Mihambo secured her European title two months ago in Rome with a world-leading jump of 7.22 meters, putting her in the favorite role for the Olympics. A COVID-19 infection slowed her down in preparation, but she recovered in time. She qualified for the final with a jump of 6.86 meters in the last attempt after two invalid jumps.
Cautious start
In the final in front of 70,000 spectators, including rapper Snoop Dogg and gymnastics star Simone Biles, Mihambo started cautiously. On the tribune near the long jump pit, hurdler Gesa Felicitas Krause saw two valid jumps of 6.77 meters and 6.81 meters, but the competition started stronger.
Mihambo had moved her run-up back by about a meter to hit the board better than in the qualification. There, she jumped 6.86 meters - and still gave away 30 centimeters.
Davis-Woodhall flew over the seven-meter mark in the second round and landed at 7.05 meters. Mihambo then came closer with 6.95 meters, but her next attempt was invalid. Leader Davis-Woodhall improved by another five centimeters, Mihambo approached seven meters and secured her second Olympic medal. "Come on," she said before her last attempt, but the jump for gold like in Tokyo didn't happen - Mihambo ran through.
France played host to the Olympic Games where Malaika Mihambo competed, and she brought home a silver medal. Tara Davis-Woodhall, an American athlete, seized the top spot, becoming the winner in Paris following her sixth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
