At the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, Lamont Marcell Jacobs will walk behind Italian flag carriers Arianna Errigo and Gianmarco Tamberi. However, he hopes that if he defends his 100-meter title, he will be the one to bear the flag in four years.
He declared: “I will have to win again in Paris to put myself forward for Los Angeles 2028.”
Jacobs, who made history by becoming the first Italian to win both the gold in the 4×100-meter relay and the men’s 100-meter race in Tokyo, will be competing in the Oslo Diamond League two days after the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in Ostrava. He also won the 100 meters at the Roma Sprint Festival in a timing that set a season record of 10.07 seconds.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs
Since his victory in Tokyo in 2021, the athlete has faced numerous injuries. After their 2023 season came to a close, he parted ways with longtime coach Paolo Camossi. The Italian is currently training in Jacksonville under American coach Rana Reider.
Jacobs stated as he prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games: “No Italian had ever reached an Olympic final in the 100 meters and to take our country where it had never been is crazy…There, in the territory that the Americans identify as almost private property, where we saw (Usain) Bolt (dominate), it really is like ‘a space trip’… I would really like to be able to see the Earth from the outside, the goal is concrete and remains.”
Cover Photo: IG
Source: CNA