Imperious Marcell Jacobs rules Rome as Italy basks in gold-laden athletics weekend

ROME – Home favourite Marcell Jacobs vowed to improve his time and technique ahead of the Paris Olympics after he retained his European 100m crown in Rome as Italy basked in their bountiful weekend with five golds to surge to the top of the medal table.

In a weekend of high-quality track and field at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, there was a record-extending seventh discus title for Croatia’s Sandra Elkasevic on June 8.

There were also victories for Belgium’s Nafi Thiam in the heptathlon and Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men’s long jump, while Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen won a third successive European Athletics Championships gold in the men’s 5,000m.

There was more joy for the hosts on June 9, as Yemaneberhan Crippa bagged Italy’s sixth gold medal of the meet when he won the half-marathon around the streets of Rome in a home one-two in 1hr 1min 3sec.

It was Crippa’s second European gold, the 27-year-old having already won the 10,000m at the 2022 Munich championships.

Teammate Pietro Riva took silver just a second behind, as three other Italians – Pasquale Selvarolo, Eyob Faniel and Yohanes Chiappinelli – finished in the top 10 to continue the team’s electric form over the opening three days in Rome. That combined showing ensured Italy won the team gold. 

At press time, Italy soared atop the medal table with seven golds, five silvers and a bronze. Norway was in second place with two golds and a silver.

Italian team captain Gianmarco Tamberi, the world high jump champion, said he wanted Italy to end up No. 1 after a seventh-place finish in 2022.

Jacobs lived up to his billing, scorching to victory in a season’s best of 10.02sec in what was a perfect tonic ahead of the Paris Games, just seven weeks away.

Italian teammate Chituru Ali took silver in 10.05sec, with Briton Romell Glave claiming bronze in 10.06sec.

“I thought I could run 9.95. I didn’t manage it but the important thing was to win,” Jacobs said.

“I made a big bet on myself because I came to Rome not in the best shape, but it was one of my goals of the season to win. I am the European champion again. It is really incredible the people here scream my name every second.

“I’m really happy about that (but) not really happy about the time. But here in this competition what counts is the medals. Now we can work, work, work more to improve the time and the technique for the Olympics.”

It capped off a magical 20 minutes for the Italians, after world silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri threw a championship record of 20.45m as he dominated the men’s shot put to deny Croatian Filip Mihaljevic back-to-back Euro golds.

Then just minutes later, with the crowd chanting like football fans, Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli surged to victory in the 110m hurdles in 13.05sec to set up Jacob’s final fanfare.

Jacobs, who claimed two gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (100m and 4x100m relay), had a slow start but showcased his signature strength in the final third. The 29-year-old has failed to dip under the 10-second mark in nearly two years and endured a series of injury issues since his Tokyo triumph in 2021. AFP, REUTERS