We speak to the Swiss athlete whose sprint hurdles win at last year’s world championships has really broadened his horizons.
As the youngest of four sisters, Ditaji Kambundji has spent most of her life trying to make it, a particularly difficult task in a family of top sprinters. She can’t remember exactly how old she was when she first competed, but remembers that the competition started so early that “there was no age division yet, so I had to compete with kids a year older than me.” However, not all that pursuit left him demoralized or disillusioned, it had quite the opposite effect.
“It’s really pushed me,” says the 23-year-old. “I grew up looking up to my sisters, so I wanted to start athletics very early. I was born into it. I think two weeks after I was born, my mom was in my arms at a baby pageant.
That belief has been proven to be valid. After years of watching his older brother Mujinga (33) burn his way to world and European medals as well as three Olympics, Muswama (30) also pursued a career in sprinting before switching from the starting blocks to bobsleigh and was part of the Swiss team at the Milanta Winter Games.
Last year, and especially at the World Championship in Tokyo, everything changed. It has really changed. As his siblings focused on the 100m and 200m, it was through the medley events that Ditaji first developed his love of hurdling “mixing speed and technique and everything”. European under-20 and under-23 titles followed, along with senior medals and qualification for the Paris Olympics, but it was her first title at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn last spring when she broke the continental 60m hurdles record to win gold in 7.67. A silver medal at the World Indoor Championships followed two weeks later and the platform was set nicely for the summer ahead.
Outside, in the 100m hurdles, Kambundji’s pace was also starting to pick up. He had a feeling that something special could be on the cards, but the Swiss also knows all too well that running fast in training is one thing, but doing so in competition, right when it matters, is quite another.
“I had a season where I had very consistent runs around 12.40 and 12.50,” he says, “but I was able to break that big barrier when it really mattered.”
His previous best of 12.40 in Tokyo would be a thing of the past. Facing a field that included Olympic champion Masai Russell and world record holder Tobi Amusan, Kambundji held his nerve and ran the race of his life, timing his fall to the line perfectly.
“I had the moment when I said: “Okay, I know this was good, I can be in for a medal,” he recalled. “But I didn’t want to (let myself think) ‘Did I win?’ and then not win. I needed to see it on screen.”
After that moment of uncertainty, the results flashed. Kambundji did win in 12.24, just shy of Yordanka Donkova’s 27-year-old European record.
“The biggest thing that made me really proud is that I was able to prove to myself that: “Okay, I can do what I think I can do,” he says. “All season I thought about those fast times and knew it was possible, but I would never have run them. A lot of people can run fast in their heads, but I’ve shown myself that I can run these fast times, and I proved that to myself in the right race.”
As the moment of victory began to sink in, up in the stands, the Kambundji family cheered the conquest to the rafters. Ditaji remembers knowing exactly what they were feeling.
“I know exactly what it feels like to be on the other side,” she says. “I spent my whole childhood in the stands and I know what it’s like to cheer on your family and how special it is for the people watching. It always really inspired me when I was in the stands to want to be there one day.
So often that source of inspiration has been Mujinga, the reigning world 60m indoor and European 200m champion, who has been many things to Ditaji: sister, training partner, travel partner, roommate. However, playing another, very different role took the older sister away from all that until recently. In November, she gave birth to her first child, Leon, and his aunt was injured.
“It’s the best thing ever,” says Ditaji. “My older sister already had two children, but the more children, the better. I love the role of being an aunt and I think it’s a very beautiful journey for (Mujinga). It makes a lot of sense to see him in that role and it’s just beautiful to watch.
The sisters are now reunited at their training base and it was recently announced that Mujinga has joined Ditaji in signing with On, a brand also with roots in Switzerland.
“I love training with him,” says Ditaji. “But then also traveling, competing, sharing a room. doing it with my sister has always had a positive effect on me and means I’m always comfortable where I am. It doesn’t matter where I go on the planet.
“Training with him has also had a big impact. When we run together, he’s always been faster than me, and having him push me has been really, really helpful. I’ve really missed him these past few months, but I’m really excited now that he’s back.
“At a young age, I was able to see my sister and see what she was doing. A lot of things that were designed for him—his structure, his coaching—were also very good for me. I was able to find my perfect solution very quickly and at a young age.”
Ditaji’s next big assignment is the World Indoor Championships. A silver medalist last year, he has warmed up well for Toruń and has already won at the venue this winter, winning the Copernicus Cup last month. The opposition will be fierce, especially in the form of defending champion and world record holder Devin Charlton, a dominant force in the 60m hurdles, who is going for his third consecutive title. However, Kambundji has spent a lot of time working on the mental side of his event and is not going to be intimidated.
“I have very, very strong competitors,” he says. “Starting alongside him (Charlton) is always different. He is a very, very fast starter and I have to bring my absolute best, but the most important thing in the competition has always been to focus on myself.
“For example, in Tokyo, I don’t know what happened next to me. I guess I don’t really need that fight. I can handle it when it’s there, but I think the best race will always be where I can fully participate in my race.”
With so little room for error, mental clarity becomes even more important. There is an art to shifting the mind, says Kambundji, from focusing on what could go wrong to what is possible instead.
“Simplifying my task for the day really keeps my mind focused and calm about everything,” she says. Thinking thoughts don’t really help you, so (it’s better to focus) on simple thoughts like: “I have to get in the way. It’s something I’ve done 1,000 times before, and I’m going to do it 1,000 times after. I don’t do something I don’t know how to do.” That’s what really helped me.
“I work a lot with breathing exercises. I needed to learn what kind of person I am when I step out onto the starting line. I’m the kind of person who needs to be really hyped up with a lot of energy.” I’ve learned that it’s totally not for me. I have to be calm, I have to be focused.”
“A good race is one where I don’t remember much. In Tokyo, I remember the last few obstacles, but I have no memory of everything that happened from one to eight, and that’s a good thing. Of course, there’s a lot to think about right before the race. That’s when I use my technique and relax, but feel good during the race. don’t think, I’m just thinking.”
