European Championships: Mihambo after silver: “A bit” gone beyond my limits

The day after her silver medal at the European Championships, long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo spoke about the great strain of competition after her corona infection.

“I just went to my limits and a bit beyond them – and I noticed that too,” said the 28-year-old in the team hotel of the German athletes.

After the lap of honor on Thursday evening in the Munich Olympic Stadium and a TV interview, Mihambo suffered a circulatory collapse. “It was like the plug was pulled for the moment,” said the world champion. It is “significantly better”, but she is still weak and still has a headache. “I got away with the shock and will recover.” The body showed her, “here is the limit and you just went over it”.

“Gone A Bit On The Gums”

Already in the competition, after the second, and even more so after the third round, she noticed “that I was a bit on the gums somewhere,” reported Mihambo. She had tired, heavy and tingly legs. After the last jump, she was already dizzy, said the 2018 European champion, who was only three centimeters short of successfully defending her title. “I won silver and didn’t lose gold.” The victory went to indoor world champion Ivana Vuleta from Serbia.

She didn’t want to miss the lap of honor, also because of the fans, said Mihambo. “A home EM is a unique opportunity, even if it’s my second now,” said the athlete from LG Kurpfalz. “It was definitely a very tough competition because you realized that you weren’t at 100 percent of your normal performance.”

Mihambo left it open what the future starts would look like. First she wants to recover completely, then train easily.