Malaika Mihambo (; born 3 February 1994) is a German athlete, 2020 Olympic champion and 2022 world champion in long jump. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Mihambo added a silver medal in the long jump.

Career Mihambo's athletic career began around 2009, when at the age of 15 she became the German under-16 champion with the heptathlon team. She also set the best performance, with the 4 × 100 meters relay team that lasted until 2018.Leichtathletik Gemeinschaft Kurpfalz – Historie (Athletics Community Kurpfalz - History) – www.lgkurpfalz.de. Retrieved 27 July 2022. In the long jump she finished ninth at the 2011 World Youth Championships, then competed at the 2012 World Junior Championships and the 2013 World Championships, without reaching the final. She also won the gold medal at the 2013 European Junior Championships, and finished fourth at the 2014 European Championships.

Her first senior major event Mihambo won at the 2014 European Team Championships, setting the new championship record with a jump of 6.90 meters. In 2015, she won the gold medal at the European U23 Championships and finished sixth at the World Championships. She narrowly missed a medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth, but won the bronze medal at the 2016 European Athletics Championships. Then a serious foot injury ruined her preparations for the 2017 World Championships. After difficult months with an uncertain sporting future the injury was overcome,Malaika Mihambo meldet sich mit vielversprechendem Test zurück (Malaika Mihambo reports back with promising test) – www.leichtathletik.de/news, 15 May 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2022. and she finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships.

With the gold medal at the 2018 European Athletics Championships, Mihambo's star began to rise into the world's top long jump. In 2019, she had her most successful season so far with a series of jumps over 7 meters.Senior Outdoor 2019 Long Jump Women – www.worldathletics.org. Retrieved 27 July 2022. She won the IAAF Diamond League and became world champion for the first time. In 2021 Mihambo crowned Olympic champion at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a jump of 7.00 meters,Die eigenen Zweifel besiegt (Defeating the own doubts) – www.fr.de (Frankfurter Rundschau), 3 August 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2022. beating Brittney Reese and Ese Brume, both with 6.97 meters. Mihambo experienced the preliminary highlight of her career as the first European to become world champion in the long jump at least twice in a row – at the 2022 World Athletics Championships she defended her world title from 2019 with a SB of 7.12 meters and won the gold medal again. This also makes her the first long jumper ever to win at the world's most important track and field competitions four times in consecutive years.Highlights – Malaika Mihambo wins second world long jump title – world-track.org, 26 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022. The streak came to an end during the 2022 European Championships - ailing in health but with a huge support of the home crowd, Mihambo managed a 7.03 m leap to finish silver, while Ivana Vuleta (SRB) became the new European champion with 3 cm more; Jazmin Sawyers (representing Great Britain) won the bronze medal (6.80 m).

Mihambo's personal best in the long jump is 7.30 meters, achieved on October 6 at the 2019 World Championships in Doha; since then, this distance has not been surpassed by any female jumper. The foundations of her success are essentially a kind of symbiotic interaction with physics and sports teacher Ralf Weber, who had been accompanying her as a coach since she was ten years old. Both developed their extensive skills together by supporting each other within a manageably small family environment, as well as permanently incorporating international experience into their training. The club she represents is the LG (Track and Field Community) Kurpfalz.Leichtathletik Gemeinschaft Kurpfalz (Kurpfalz Athletics Community) – www.lgkurpfalz.de (homepage). Retrieved 27 July 2022.

Personal life Her mother Petra Mihambo-Fichtner is German and her father is Tanzanian; she grew up and went to school in the municipality of Oftersheim.Olympiasiegerin Malaika Mihambo in Dessau zum Gespräch: Karriere, Erfolge, Privat (Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo in Dessau for a talk: career, successes, private life) In: Anhalt Sport e. V., 18 January 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022. Mihambo studied political science at the University of Mannheim on a sports scholarship, graduating in 2016.Malaika Mihambo ist „Sportstipendiatin des Jahres“ 2014 (Malaika Mihambo is Sports Scholar of the Year 2014) In: uni-mannheim.de, 12 September 2014 Since April 2019, she has been studying in the postgraduate master's program in environmental sciences at the University of Hagen and is involved in a social project for children.FernUni-Studentin holt WM-Titel in Doha (FernUni student wins world championship title in Doha) – fernuni-hagen.de, 2 October 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2022.Meisterin im Sand mit Interessen weit über den Sport hinaus (Champion of the sand with interests far beyond the sport) – www.leichtathletik.de, 4 October 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2022. On 15 December 2020, Mihambo was named “Germany's Sportswoman of the Year“ for the third time in a row; a world best of 7.03 meters on the athletic level was followed by special recognition for her social commitment to helping children and families get into athletics on the one hand and social contacts on the other.Sportler des Jahres (Athlete of the year) – sportjournalist.de/VDS, 21 Decembre 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2022.Malaika Mihambo – Home – www.malaika-mihambo.com. Retrieved 26 July 2022.

Major competitive record

Representing 2011 World Youth Championships Lille, France 9th Long jump 5.81 m 2012 World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 14th (q) Long jump 6.15 m 2013 European Junior Championships Rieti, Italy1st Long jump 6.70 m World Championships Moscow, Russia 18th (q) Long jump 6.49 m 2014 European Team Championships Braunschweig, Germany1st Long jump 6.90 m, European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 4th Long jump 6.65 m 2015 European U23 Championships Tallinn, Estonia1st Long jump 6.73 m World Championships Beijing, China 6th Long jump 6.79 m2016 European Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands3rd Long jump 6.65 m Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4th Long jump 6.95 m2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 5th Long jump 6.64 m European Championships Berlin, Germany1st Long jump 6.75 m2019 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 4th Long jump 6.83 m European Team Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland1st Long jump 7.11 m World Championships Doha, Qatar1st Long jump 7.30 m, 2021 European Indoor Championships Toruń, Poland2nd Long jump 6.88 m Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan1st Long jump 7.00 m2022 World Championships Eugene, United States1st Long jump 7.12 m European Championships Munich, Germany2nd Long jump 7.03 m2023European Indoor ChampionshipsIstanbul, Turkey4thLong jump6.83 m2024European ChampionshipsRome, Italy1stLong jump7.22 m, Olympic GamesParis, France2ndLong jump6.98 m2025European Indoor ChampionshipsApeldoorn, Netherlands3rdLong jump6.88 mWorld ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan2ndLong jump6.99 m2026European ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom5thLong jump6.94 m (w)

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