Olympic Champ Marcell Jacobs Made his 9.95 look easy at the European Championships
Marcell Lamont Jacobs wins men's 100m European title in Munich and sets new championship record
The Olympic champion won a tight final in Munich to clinch his first 100m European championship crown: "It's been a difficult and complicated season, so taking home gold is exciting," the Italian said.
Italy's Olympic champion Marcell Lamont Jacobs put his injury-ridden season behind him by winning the 100m at the European athletics championships in Munich on Tuesday (16 August).
The 27-year-old won his first outdoor continental crown in a time of 9.95 seconds. The Tokyo 2020 star improved on his season best time in the semi-final (10.00) and claimed one of the six gold medals available on the night at the Olympiastadion.
The podium was completed by Great Britain's 2018 Euro champ, Zharnel Hughes running 9.99, while Jeremiah Azu took bronze in a time of 10.13 seconds.
"I'm very happy with this result. It wasn't my best race from a technical point of view and the time is not what I wanted but it mattered crossing the line first after an outdoor season so complicated and full of injuries," Jacobs said after the race.
"Coming here and showing that I am the best is something beautiful that motivates me to push even harder."
The Italian becomes just the third man in history to win 100m Olympic and European titles back-to-back.
He follows in the footsteps of Valreiy Borzov of the Soviet Union (Munich 1972-Roma 1974) and Great Britian's Linford Christie (Barcelona 1992-Helsinki 1994).
After being the surprise winner of the 100m Olympic title at Tokyo 2020, in March Jacobs beat defending champion Christian Coleman to the world indoor 60m title in Belgrade.
However his outdoor season before Munich had been undermined by illness and muscle problems which forced him to scratch from the semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
"My goal this season was to win three medals, we won two out of three and it can be considered a good result," he said.
"Being forced to withdraw from the semi-finals at the World championships was a big disappointment, but next year there's going to be another championships and all my motivation will be to do well there."
"I want to say thank you to the people who have been supporting me, and also to the people who criticized me because they gave me the energy to show that I'm the best," the newly crowned European champion said.
"I'd like to watch it again as I think I ran better in the semi-final.
"Maybe I was too tense and I didn't start well, then I managed to recover speed but it was important to finish ahead.
"When I was practicing at the starting blocks I felt a niggle in my calf, but I tried to give it all, and fortunately it was just a small problem.
"The time is not as great as what I wanted because I always aim for the best but I'm happy with this. A lot of people thought that I wouldn't even start and winning gold means that we have been working well and that I can continue to achieve great things. Now I'm looking to win more with the 4x100."
posted Thursday August 18th
by Ash Tulloch and Alessandro Poggi