Marcell Jacobs is gaining momentum. The unexpected Olympic champion in 2021 retained European gold in the 100 meters in 10.02 (wind: + 0.7 m/s) on Saturday in Rome, less than 50 days before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In the stadium Olympic Games in Rome, Italy even achieved a double at the end of the straight line: Jacobs was ahead of Chituru Ali, by three hundredths, and the Briton Romell Glave, by four hundredths.
Less than two months before the 2024 Olympics, Jacobs (29 years old) ran his fastest 100m of the season, but he did not manage to go under ten seconds as he had hoped. The Italian sprinter has not completed a 100m in less than ten seconds since his previous European coronation in Munich, in August 2022, in 9.95.
Hampered by injuries last season, he changed everything at the end of 2023: exited his long-time coach Paolo Camossi, the Italian born in Texas flew to Florida to join Rana Reider’s group in Jacksonville.
Jacobs concluded a golden evening for Italy: before him, Leonardo Fabbri, in the shot put, and Lorenzo Simonelli, in the 110m hurdles, had already been crowned European champions. After just two days of competition in the Italian capital, the Azzurri athletes are at the top of the nations rankings, with already five gold medals, four silvers, and one bronze.
