Mujinga Kambundji sprints to world class

She was a talented Bernese girl and never wanted to set limits. Now she is running 5th in the fastest 100m final in history. This is a milestone in Swiss sports history

She wows audiences with her performances and her fresh performances: Mujinga Kambundji

Axel Kohring / Imago

You’ve gotten used to it a bit, and yet it’s still absolutely extraordinary: again a Swiss sprints to a top position in a big final, again the great sprint nation USA has to line up behind Switzerland. Mujinga Kambundji once again managed to deliver a top performance at the decisive moment. With 10.91 she ran the second best time of her career, much more was not possible on a cool evening in Eugene.

It took an exploit to achieve the fastest final in athletics history. In the semifinals, Kambundji sprinted down the home stretch in 10.96 seconds, and that was just enough for last place in the final field. Also measured against the best times of the finalists, Kambundji was only number eight with 10.89. That says it all about the incredibly high level of the women’s sprint at the moment.

Leading figure for an entire sport

The 30-year-old didn’t just line up in the showdown where she belonged based on the numbers, she ran boldly and ranked her as number 5 in the world. This ability to pull off the best performance at X hour is something that has always distinguished them. It first caught the attention of the general public in 2014, when she competed in the home European Championships in Zurich without a big record, ran the national record twice over 100 m and once over 200 m and inspired people with her fresh performances.

In retrospect, the fact that these continental title fights took place in Switzerland was the initial spark for all Swiss athletics, and Kambundji was to become the leading figure of the new generation. A year earlier she had placed 5th at the U23 European Championships over 100m and 200m and then decided to get even more out of herself in a professional environment.

The native of Bern moved to Germany to coach Valerij Bauer, who was in charge of the strongest sprint group in Europe at the time. She was a nobody with a best time of 11.50, and no one would have predicted that she would improve by six tenths of a second in the 100m over the next nine years and become a world elite.

She sets no limits

What distinguishes Kambundji is that she doesn’t set herself any limits. But their ideas certainly didn’t go that far back then. It was much more about improving step by step and always raising the bar a little bit higher. Bauer gave Kambundji a lot of strength training and literally reshaped her body. The once graceful sprinter put on eight kilograms of muscle mass and approached the European top. In 2016 she won bronze at the European Championships over 100 m. That was far more than one could have hoped for from a Swiss sprinter.

But at some point Kambundji felt that there were limits to their development under Bauer. And she didn’t want to accept that. In the years that followed, she changed coaches several times. At the same time, she had a kind of safety net in Bern, which her youth coach Jaques Cordey and Adrian Rothenbühler, who was mainly responsible for strength training at the time, put in place. If something didn’t work, she could turn to these trusted people for advice.

Athletes are quickly criticized by outsiders if they keep looking for salvation with another coach. But Kambundji has developed a good sense of what she needs over the years. She never rejected everything she had learned from the last coach when she changed, but took with her what helped her. At the same time, Rothenbühler became more and more important as a kind of mentor.

When the athlete was looking for a new coach in 2019, Rothenbühler accompanied her to Great Britain. Various discussions were held and finally the choice fell on Steve Fudge. According to Rothenbühler, it was crucial that the Scot was also interested in everything that Kambundji had done in previous years. He built on that and gave her new inputs. At the 2019 World Championships, Kambundji took the next big step: she won bronze at the 200 m World Championships in Doha.

Once again she had achieved something that was actually unimaginable for a Swiss sprinter. And she succeeded with an ease and naturalness that enchanted the audience. It became clear on the sidelines of the 2019 World Cup in a simple hotel in Doha where she got this character from, which to this day has not been bent despite all her successes.

Four sisters on the tartan track

The Kambundji family always saw sport as something that should above all be fun. Four girls were born to the Kambundjis, the eldest took up athletics, the others emulated him. When driving to a competition, father Safuka would sing Congolese songs at the wheel and the daughters would sing along. In the early years, Dad was only out and about with three girls. Mother Ruth had prepared a packed lunch for them and looked after the baby, Ditaji, at home.

Mujinga stood out from the sisters because of her talent. But family was always her priority. When Mujinga began to orientate herself towards the best in the Swiss sprint, she promised the sisters that she would invite them on a trip together with the prize for the first national record. In 2014 she reached this first important goal, after which the Kambundji girls flew to New York together. Ditaji, who was only 12 at the time, was also there. This is also typical for this family: the parents were sure that the big sisters would take care of the little ones far, far away.

In the meantime, Mujinga Kambundji has reached maturity in its development. She has internalized the input from previous coaches and found her center in Bern. The trainer is Adrian Rothenbühler, who has known her for many years and, in discussions with the athlete, tries to optimize what can still be optimized with a 30-year-old. And indeed, there are still details that make better performance possible. In March, Mujinga Kambundji became world champion indoors over 60 m and ran a national record, just under a month ago she ran over 100 m with 10.89 faster than ever before, which is also a Swiss record. And what did she say after both races? “I can run even faster.”

Eugene’s fifth place is objectively the best result in Mujinga Kambundji’s career. The level has never been as high and the density as great as in the 100 m field at this World Cup. At the World Indoor Championships in March, on the other hand, the very best sprinters in the world were missing. The Swiss knew she could win and she did it in an impressive way. In Eugene it was already clear before the start that others would be fighting for the medals. Above all, she wanted to enjoy the run, said Kambundji later. She did, and in the process she beat three other athletes who were better than her on paper.

Sure, the family celebrated that. And there is a little postscript to this story. Ditaji Kambundji, the former baby, has also qualified for this World Cup and is considered an exceptional talent in the hurdle sprint. She is also trained by Adrian Rothenbühler. He has reduced his workload at the University of Sport to 50 percent. The Swiss Athletics association has hired him part-time as national coach. But 10 percent of his wages are paid by the Kambundjis. If you look at their performance, you can see that it is money well invested.


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