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Olympics: Marcell Jacobs becomes the new 100m king with glory for Italy

  • Marcell Jacobs becomes the new 100m king with glory for Italy
    Silver for Fred Kerley and bronze for Andre De Grasse Marcell Jacobs becomes the new 100m king with glory for Italy
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Silver for Fred Kerley and bronze for Andre De Grasse

 

The Italian sprinter Marcell Jacobs caused a major sensation in the men’s Olympic 100m final by storming to his country’s first ever gold medal in the event.

On an evening of pulsating drama the 26-year-old, a former long jumper, powered clear in the last 30m to win in 9.80sec. The American Fred Kerley was second in 9.84s while Canada’s Andre De Grasse flew home in 9.89s to take bronze.

Before the athletes were announced the stadium was plunged in darkness, and the names of the finalists read out, starting with the barrel chested Enoch Agekoke of Nigeria. As the camera panned across Britain’s Zharnel Hughes in lane four smiled but looked tense. Bingtian Su showed the world his biceps. Ronnie Baker bit down hard. While De Grasse, wearing sunglasses, looked like the coolest man on the planet. As the eight men crouched down, and the battle music played, Hughes suddenly got a rush of blood to his head and false started. But when the gun blasted off it was Jacobs who kept his cool best of all.

Inevitably this 100m final felt very different. 

The Bolt supremacy lasted through three Olympics. The Jamaican was an outlier among outliers, a genetic freak among genetic freaks.