Malaika Mihambo: The competition within myself keeps me motivated every day

Germany's athletics superstar Malaika Mihambo is the queen of long jump.

The 28-year-old is the reigning Olympic, World and European champion in the event and she admitted she feels more 'relaxed' after completing her set of titles at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021.

This year, she has already successfully defended her crown at the World championships in Oregon last month, soaring to a second successive world title with a final leap of 7.12m after faulting on her first two jumps: "I'm looking forward to the European Championships to perform better than in Eugene," she told Olympics.com ahead of trying to repeat the feat in the continental event.

She's making the attempt in front of her home fans at the Olympiastadion in Munich in the final on Thursday (18 August) after flying through qualifying on Tuesday.

Her first senior major gold medal came four years ago at the same event in Berlin. The 2020 edition of the Europeans was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

The Heidelberg native, whose father is Tanzanian, also won the Diamond League trophy in 2019 and she has collected accolades since she was a junior. So if it's not the quest for missing titles, what keeps her going?

“I think after 2016 I started to focus more on myself and it’s just a kind of inner competition to grow as a person, to grow as an athlete, to improve technical issues and just be a better athlete and perform better," she said.

Mihambo is not just an incredible athlete. She's passionate about yoga and meditation, she plays piano, and also set up her own organisation, ‘Malaikas Herzrprung’, to help children get into sports.

Read on for the full Q&A with the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, who's now eyeing the German and World record: "I want to grow further and improve myself and to see how close I can reach to those performances,” she told us.

Olympics.com (O): You just flew back from the US where you won your second straight world title: did you have time to reflect on your achievement and what are the biggest takeaways from Eugene as you prepare for the home Euros?

Malaika Mihambo (MM): “Well, I did not really have the time to reflect on what I did, on the competition itself, because we had a really tight schedule. After the competitions I had no more than 3 hours of sleep and then we had to drive to Portland and then to fly to Denver and then to Frankfurt.

“And now I'm really jetlagged, but I'm really happy with what I achieved and what I’ve learned so far. And what I could reflect on was the fact that I had really much fun. And this is something different because if you don't have all the titles you're still hungry for the one that is still missing. And now that I have achieved all, I'm more relaxed and there's is a certain easiness that is new.

“That's something that really makes me able to perform on a different kind of level. And I think this is something that is really leading me to make better achievements. So I'm looking forward to the European Championships to perform better than in Eugene.”

O: How are you resetting yourself, physically and mentally, for the second biggest event of the season, what are the biggest challenges?

MM: Right now I'm resetting in the sense that I'm just keeping it low and simple. I don’t have much to do. I’m just relaxing, having some easy training. At the end of this week, I will start with a normal, intense training week, and after that I will go on to the relax mood again. And then I hope that I will be best prepared for the competition at the European Championships.

O: Four years ago in Berlin you said you didn’t enjoy the event because you thought too much about pressure and expectations. What’s going to be your mental approach this time?

MM: I think I've learned so much over this time. These four years taught me a lot. I learned so much because I had troubles with the technique, troubles with believing in myself - because of the lack in the technique and the lack of physical ability and power.

“I had somehow a weak year or one and a half years, and I had to come back and fight through all those depths and all the lows. And that's something that has made me grow up somehow. And I think that I'm now well prepared for the European Championships.

“I'm looking forward to it, to be in the middle, at the centre of the competition. And I think I'm now able to enjoy it. The audience, the tension and everything that comes with being on top at World Athletics.”

O: You come to this event as defending Olympic, World, and European champion: how much has your confidence grown over the last few months and how important is self-belief in your sport?

MM: “Yeah, the belief in myself is really, really important. One of the most important things besides the physical capabilities. But what is also really important is that I am really confident. All the success gave me confidence. But every time, every competition is something new, you have to start from zero. And I have to work for every title again and again.

“So I'm somehow really humble. And I know that if I want to win again, I really have to work hard for it. So I'm focusing right now on working hard and hoping to achieve or to hold on the title with that.”

O: Many elite athletes, from Eliud Kipchoge to Joshua Cheptegei, use mental techniques to improve their performances. Can you tell us in what way meditation is key for you?

MM: “Meditation is a key for my preparation because I think meditation helps you to set your focus, to keep being focused over a long period of time on one thing. And it's also important because you learn how to somehow withdraw from all the pressure that's going on with you, that distracts you. And just focus on the moment and the moment you have right now and every chance you have in that moment. So that's where I'm focusing on.

“On the other hand, I'm also focusing on self-reflection because the thoughts you have, they are your daily company and they also somehow decide on success or not. So that's what I'm also focusing on being happy with myself, being content, be, yeah, just have a good feeling about myself and no fears and no worries.”

O: How do you train your mind when you’re not competing?

**MM: “**As I said, it's something daily. It's the daily meditation, but it's also somehow a daily reflection of who I am today. What are my worries today? Where are my fears today? And I'm always concerned about finding perspectives, new perspectives on issues that troubled me somehow and one or the other way.

“So that's how I focus in my daily life on things that are a hindrance at my athletic performance, but also in my personal life as a just normal human being. And that's what keeps me growing and keeps me being a more happy person than I was before.”

O: Do you feel you're a yogi-athlete?

MM: “Well, I do sometimes, because I really love those intense, meditation retreats where you focus on meditation for hours and hours in one day. And I really like those courses: I had one meditation course, and it lasted for ten days, and I was meditating 10 hours a day.

“And it was in silence, so no speaking, not really writing anything, no kind of communication except with just being by yourself. And that was really tough, one of the toughest things I did in my life. So it's something that makes me stronger."

O: You love travelling and we know you spent time in India, Thailand, and Finland: what country are you travelling to next and why?

MM: “Next, I would travel to South America because I'm really interested in the landscape but also in the culture. I have no plan where I'm going exactly, but I will be there in the fall of this year.”

O: You started playing piano a few years ago: How is this helping you find a balance?

MM: “Music offers a really great balance for me because because it's something different than sport. Sport is more about technique and just somehow perform, but music is also about technique, but more about expressing yourself, expressing your feelings, emotions, interpreting different kind of songs. And it’s about letting my emotions out. Sport is somehow an internal thing where I focus on myself, on my movements, on my steps and everything.”

O: What is your favourite music or composer?

MM: “Difficult question. It depends. When it comes to piano music, I'm really into classical piano music, like Chopin or Debussy, but also Bach, those are composers which I really admire.

“But when it comes to listening to music and normal music, I also like pop music or older charts from today or from some time ago. It doesn't really matter. It's just about the vibes that I can feel.”

O: What music do you play in your mind before a jump?

MM: “Well, that is different every time. I think every year has its tune for me. So it really depends on what's going on. For me, sport is more about feel-good music. So no deep classical music, nothing slow, more, something with rhythm and with a text that makes me feel good. That gives me some additional confidence and strength.”

O: You said that your aim is to get better and better, both as a person and an athlete: what steps are you following to do that?

MM: I focus, as I said, finding new perspectives on myself or on problems so that I can grow or that I can stop perceiving something as an obstacle or a hindrance or something that makes me sad or angry or somehow influences me in a negative way.

O: You have your own organisation ‘Malaikas Herzrprung’, which helps children get into sports: how has sport helped you develop as a person and what was the biggest learning from being an athlete?

MM: “I think I've learned so much as an athlete. I cannot even try to grasp it and put it in one single headline or something. So I learned really lots about life. And I think the good thing is sport is something where you have to give 100% into one thing and to give 100%, you have to be clear about who you are, where you are, where you want to go.

“And this is something that really is important in life, to know where you want to be and who you want to be, and that you learn every day more to be that kind of person that you want to be. “

O: You've won all the titles available, what challenge motivates you now?

MM: “I think after 2016 I started to focus more on myself and it’s just a kind of inner competition to grow as a person, to grow as an athlete, to improve technical issues and just be a better athlete and perform better. So the competition within myself and with me is that what is inspiring me, what keeps me motivated every day.”

O: Your PB is 7.30 metres, from the 2019 World championships in Doha. How intrigued are you by Heike Drechsler’s German record (7.48) or Galina Chistyakova’s world record (7.52)?

MM: “Well, those were pretty, pretty outstanding achievements. So I really respect that. And for sure, it's something where I also want to grow further and improve myself and to see how close I can reach to those performances.”

O: We know that Uli Knapp was crucial in your achievements, but how fascinated are you by the possibility of training with legend Carl Lewis and former 100 WR holder Leroy Burrell?

**MM: “**Yes, I am intrigued by that because those two are really outstanding athletes that achieved a lot, and I think I could learn a lot from them. But what I also realised during the years that I've been working with Uli Knapp is that I've already found someone who’s a really good coach, who's 100% in with me and who goes through every ups and downs, and someone who is really empathetic and sensible and sees me as a person and not only as an athlete.

“And I want to really value that. And that's the reason why I want to keep training with him and stay with him here in Germany. But we are super open to working with other athletic teams and coaches. And so we really want to go and see some other training groups and see what we can learn from them or see what we can teach them about our training. And I'm really curious about that. And this might be how I can also get in contact with Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell and train also with them and learn something from them.”

O: How does running the 100m help you with the long jump and what are your ambitions in sprinting?

MM: “I think speed is the most important thing for an athlete in long jump, because only with a certain speed that you are able to reach, you can jump further. So this is why I'm doing sprinting, but I realised that my body is not really made for focusing on professional sprinting and professional long jump at the same time. So I focus on long jump because that's my discipline where I'm really the best. So sprinting is just something like, a work you do, but for preparing for the long jump.”

O: What margin for improvement do you see in the next few years and what will be key?

MM: “I think certainly there are some keys left to how I can manage to improve myself. I think one of them it's definitely the speed. So still increasing my speed, even though I'm one of the fastest or maybe the fastest long jumper right now in the world. But that's something and then it's not only the speed, but you have to be able to jump it. So to learn how to really jump that speed, to transform this speed into this horizontal impulse and vertical impulse with which I can manage to improve my length.”