DGermany’s great hope for gold, Malaika Mihambo, started her World Cup weekend in Eugene with a commanding performance. In the long jump qualification, the Olympic champion and defending champion jumped 6.84 m in the first attempt on Saturday and easily surpassed the 6.75 m required for the final on Sunday (5:50 p.m. OT/2:50 a.m. CEST on Monday morning).
The 28-year-old from LG Kurpfalz indicated her potential on Saturday afternoon and dropped a proud 17 centimeters when she took off. Three years ago she secured the title in Doha with her personal best of 7.30 m, in 2021 she jumped 7.00 m to gold in the last attempt at the Olympics.
With 7.09 m achieved in May, Mihambo traveled to the World Cup as number two in the world. Shortly before the start of the title fights, the Australian Brooke Buschkuehl had taken the lead in the best list for the year with 7.13 m. Buschkuehl also qualified for the final on Saturday with 6.76 m in the first attempt.
