athletics
Two “M&M’s” want to go far – “Jumping for Malaika”
Because of an injury, Malaika Mihambo canceled her start at the World Cup. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
World Cup long jump without Malaika Mihambo is actually unthinkable. After good performances, Mikaelle Assani and Maryse Luzolo also have a lot to offer. Will Sesame Street fans keep their fingers crossed?
With all the anticipation of their own World Cup premiere, Germany’s long jump hopes Mikaelle Assani and Maryse Luzolo are also thinking of the track and field star that is so missed in the team Malaika Mihambo.
“Of course she’s missing because she’s a long jump icon and a friend for us,” said Assani, who celebrated her birthday on Friday at the team hotel in Budapest west of the Danube. The day before the long jump preliminary, the native of Pforzheim turned 21 years old.
Mihambo is injured in Budapest
6.91 meters is the best distance in Assani’s statistics from May, which makes it one of the top 10 in the world. Luzolo landed her longest set three weeks before the World Cup. “The 6.84 meters gave me a real tailwind and security, Maryse, you can jump and it can work well at the World Cup,” said the 28-year-old from Frankfurt to the German Press Agency. The Jamaican Ackelia Smith is first in the classification with 7.08 meters. There is no absolute top distance, but twelve jumpers with 6.91 meters or more document an enormous power density.
The two-time world champion Mihambo is led by the German championships in the ranking with 6.93 meters. Because of the muscle fiber tear suffered there, the Olympic champion is missing in Hungary. Mihambo has long since set his sights on the Olympics. “I’m looking forward to Paris 2024. Now more than ever!” The 29-year-old recently announced. At world and European championships as well as at the summer games in Tokyo, she was always a medal guarantor for the German Athletics Association.
“Malaika and I wish the team every success and we hope that everyone will go into the competitions with confidence. There is no giving up,” said her coach Ulli Knapp, who, after half a century on site, is an unusual TV viewer this time. “Due to the many injuries in the run-up, the World Cup is a great challenge, but at the same time it is also an opportunity, especially for the young athletes, to show what they can do.”
This also applies to the long jumpers, who are among the first DLV starters in the preliminary competition this Saturday. “With this strong field, you have to be wide awake in the qualification and already call up your best performance,” said Uwe Florczak, head DLV national coach jump.
With Assani, who was the youngest German athlete at the European Summer Fairy Tale a year ago in Munich, Florczak sees the potential to become a seven-meter jumper if she develops accordingly. “Now I don’t expect myself to jump 6.91 meters every day,” said the bioengineering student. “But it shows for the next few years that there is definitely still something in me.”
Like Assani, Luzolo hopes to reach the final
Luzolo, who won bronze at the U20 World Cup in 2014, was also well on his way to becoming an international leader. But an incorrectly adjusted, fully automatic leg press caused the biology student and sports soldier to suffer serious knee injuries in 2017; Doctors assessed her chances of further competitive sport as zero. Even the way back is a huge success: in 2019 she celebrated her comeback, in 2021 she fulfilled her Olympic dream – and now she jumps further than ever before.
Although Luzolo feels “no longer in the limelight” after Mihambo’s failure. But she has already reached a large audience: In the legendary show “Sesame Street” she taught Elmo and Abby how to long jump.
Like Assani, Luzolo hopes to reach the final. The two of them presented themselves beaming with joy at the training ground shortly before the start of the World Cup. “We are the M&M’s,” Assani joked about himself (Mikaelle), Maryse, Malaika and Merle Homeier, who was unable to qualify due to injury. “Of course it’s a great pity that Mali isn’t there. We’ve known each other for a long time and are really good friends. You miss them in the team,” said Luzolo. “We’ll definitely jump in for Malaika.”