Olympic 100-metre champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs confirmed he is in excellent form for the Paris Games by breaching the 10-second mark twice to win gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland.
The Italian, who clocked 9.80 seconds in Tokyo and also won 4x100m relay gold, finished first in his heat in with a time of 9.99 seconds and went on to win gold in 9.92 seconds.
Before his latest feat in Finland on Tuesday (June 18), the 29-year-old had broken the 10-second barrier just once since the Tokyo Games in 2021. His 9.92-second gold-winning run in Finland was the third-fastest of his career.
Jacobs was chased home by fellow Italian Chituru Ali, who claimed the silver in 9.96 seconds in the first sub-10 second run of his career. Canada’s Olympic 200-metre champion, Andre De Grasse, was third in 10 seconds.
Victorious Jacobs said: “Before today I was a bit worried that I hadn’t run under 10 seconds yet (this season), but it’s part of the game and now I have done it twice.”Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala
Jacobs will face stiff competition, though.
Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala ran faster
Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala ran 100 metres in 9.79 seconds – a fraction faster than Jacobs’ Olympic record — at Kenya’s Olympic trials on Saturday (June 15).
The Paavo Nurmi Games – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – in Finland’s oldest city of Turku saw other champions in winning form.
The 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica claimed victory in the men’s 110-metre hurdles while the 2019 world champion Nia Ali of the USA won the women’s 100-metre hurdles.
Sources: The Independent,