Jacobs no longer wins, here’s what happens to the Olympic champion of the 100 – Corriere.it

Too bad to be true, seventh and penultimate in the 100 meters in Paris conquered by American pop star Noah Lyles, Marcell Jacobs restarts from the time printed on Charlety’s stopwatch, 10”21, with the belief that it will be difficult to get worse. He had to break the ice with the Diamond League, Jacobs, and he did. The good news is that this year the World Cup is late (Budapest, 19-27 August): throwing away three tenths of a second in just over two months is a drastic slimming cure for a sprinter, but one must also believe that nothing is impossible for the king of Olympia, if healthy.

Friday evening in Paris, in a beautiful athletics evening enhanced by two world records (the Kipyegon in the 5 thousand in 14’05”20 a week after the primacy in the 1500s in Florence and Girma in the hedges), the blue was in the race 30 meters before stiffening, turning into his own stunt double. He made a grimace at that moment, which had been interpreted as discomfort for yet another symptom in the body. But after the finish line he denied ailments: A bloody race, to be forgotten. A time I haven’t done for years (Berlin, September 13, 2020, before the explosion in Tokyo: 10”26, ed). I grimaced because everyone was overtaking me, I was stiff, with wooden legs, or rather concrete ones. If Jacobs is fine, as confirmed, he can run. If the only problem is the rust resulting from the lumbosacral discomfort that forced him to miss Rabat and the Golden Gala, preventing him from training at full speed in recent weeks, his seasonal staff in the 100m will improve. For the calendar between now and the World Championship, he’s not teeming with races. Oslo on June 15 does not have the men’s sprint scheduled and at the European Cup in Poland (June 20-25) reasons of state could ask him to do double work: the 4×100 relay, in fact, which Paris with the remodeled formation Patta-Ricci-Desalu-Tortu being disqualified for a change (the second) out of the sector, he still has time to do for Budapest. But in Chorzow will Jacobs be able to sustain 100 and 4×100? Or should the Olympic gold relay be dramatically sacrificed?

Then one could imagine it in Stockholm on July 2nd, in Silesia on the 16th, in Montecarlo on the 21st, coach Camossi doesn’t help to understand (If I tell you the programme, then you write it), everything – oib – wrapped in the utmost secrecy, difficult to obtain answers from a closed clan. The Jacobs seen in Paris, in short, a distant relative of the master in Tokyo, but he has some alibis in his pocket. Via twitter, the totem Michael Johnson points out: Jacobs is the reigning Olympic champion, and this is a success that no one will ever take away from him. The debate, today, whether it can repeat itself. He’s clearly fast, but can he stay healthy long enough to put together a consistent series of high-level races to make it to the World Championship as a favourite? For now, no indicator prompts me to say yes. I base myself on the observation of the facts, but I also believe that the criticisms concerning him must be fair and balanced. For his part Fred Kerley, the reigning world champion waiting for Jacobs at the gate in Budapest, is silent. Not even teasing your rival on social media is fun anymore.