Germany's Malaika Mihambo (© Getty Images)
World and Olympic long jump champion Malaika Mihambo will return to the Init Indoor Meeting in Karlsruhe on 27 January for the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold fixture of 2023.
The German star has so far only confirmed her participation in the 60m, an event in which she has a PB of 7.22, but meeting director Alain Blondel hinted that Mihambo could make a last-minute decision to line up in her specialist event too, as she did two years ago.
Mihambo is a familiar face at this meeting, having competed there in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Her first appearance at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe marked something of a breakthrough for Mihambo, as she beat a world-class field with a then indoor PB of 6.72m, and went on to win her first major senior title later that year.
The 28-year-old is now a two-time world champion, an Olympic champion, and has a full set of medals from the European Championships. She has PBs of 7.30m outdoors and 7.07m indoors, and has jumped beyond seven metres for the past four consecutive seasons.
The Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, which is now sold out, is the first of seven World Indoor Tour Gold meetings in 2023. In early February the tour heads to Boston, then Torun, New York, Lievin and Madrid before the series final in Birmingham.
