European Athletics Championships in Rome
Mihambo after European Championship gold: “We haven’t pulled out all the stops yet”
Malaika Mihambo regained the European Championship gold medal in Rome with the second best jump of her career
© Oliver Weiken
Malaika Mihambo believes that she can jump even further this year than the 7.22 meters with which she flew to gold at the European Championships in Rome. Javelin thrower Julian Weber, who won silver, wants to improve on that for the Olympics.
The Olympic champion, two-time world champion and now two-time European champion is travelling to the Summer Games in Paris with a very good feeling, where gold will be at stake in early August. “I’m looking forward to training for the next two months because I know that we haven’t pulled out all the stops in terms of training technique,” said Mihambo, although she came within eight centimetres of her best distance. At her first World Championship title in 2019 in Doha, she jumped 7.30 metres.
Malaika Mihambo got goosebumps
In Rome, she said she got goosebumps after her second attempt. She said her performance could not be rated highly enough. However, Mihambo was typically reserved about being the favorite for the Olympics – she wants to look at her own performance first.
“In the long jump, even the best form is of no use if you go two millimetres over the line. But it is also clear that I give everything in a championship until the last jump is over,” said the Heidelberg native, who has regained her old strength after tearing a muscle fibre last year.
Javelin thrower Julian Weber was delighted with silver and his second international medal, although Czech Jakub Vadlejch overtook him in the last attempt and prevented the Mainz native from winning his second European Championship title in a row. With 88.65 metres, Vadlejch took revenge for his defeat at the European Championships two years ago in Munich, after Weber had led for a long time with 85.94 from the first attempt.
German team with eleven medals, but only one gold
The 29-year-old from Mainz wants to improve a few things before the Olympic Games. “I can still do a lot technically. To be honest, those weren’t the prettiest throws today,” said Weber. He wants to gain more routine and confidence.
Overall, the German team won five medals on the sixth and final day of the European Championships, thanks to Mihambo and Weber, as well as bronze for pole vaulter Oleg Zernikel and the two men’s relay teams. There were eleven medals in total, with Mihambo taking the only title. At the European Championships at home two years ago, there were seven gold and silver medals and two bronze medals. The clear number one in Rome was host Italy with eleven titles and a total of 24 medals.