Reigning world and European champion Malaika Mihambo will go head-to-head with reigning world and European indoor champion Ivana Spanovic at the inaugural ISTAF Indoor in Dusseldorf on Sunday (31) afternoon, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver Meeting.
Mihambo and Spanovic join an illustrious cast of athletes which includes the previously announced Dina Asher-Smith, Armand Duplantis, Sam Kendricks, Nadine Visser and Pascal Marinot-Lagarde for the first edition of this meeting which takes place behind closed doors at the ISS-Dome this weekend.
The line-up for the long jump also features German-based Romanian Alina Rotaru and in-form Swede Khaddi Sagnia who will be making her season’s debut in the long jump. Sagnia showed newfound speed earlier this month with a 7.26 lifetime best in the 60m.
Mihambo is also due to compete five days later at the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin on 5 February. The German provided one of the highlights of the indoor season at last year’s edition by reaching out to a world lead of 7.07m in the sixth round to break into the world indoor all-time top-10.
But the organisers have recruited more world class opposition to face Mihambo in Berlin. One week after facing Spanovic in Dusseldorf, Mihambo will renew her rivalry in the German capital with Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, the silver medallist behind Mihambo at both the 2018 European Championships and 2019 World Championships.
Bekh-Romanchuk did get the better of Mihambo in their last head-to-head at the outdoor equivalent of this meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. This was Mihambo’s only defeat in the long jump in a largely truncated 2020 season.
Meeting director Martin Seeber said: “Malaika enchanted 12,500 fans in Berlin last year. We are very proud that it will start again in this challenging year at both ISTAF Indoor in Düsseldorf and Berlin. The fans can look forward to a world class long jump again.”
Due to safety and sanitary measures, ISTAF Indoor in Düsseldorf will take place without spectators although there will be live streaming of the event here.