At the time, few people would have noticed Marcell Jacobs’ two previous European Championship appearances. In 2016, he finished 11th in the long jump; two years later, he failed to progress from the 100m semifinal.
The fact that he is on the 100 meters on Monday as Olympic champion shows how much the Italian’s life has changed in the past year: from an also-walked to the event’s biggest star.
Not since Linford has brought Christie in 1992 to a 100m Olympic champion from Europe. Three decades later, the world’s best sprinter returns to the European stage with great uncertainty about what the week might hold for him.
If Jacobs’ stratospheric, unexpected rise to the pinnacle of the sport last year wasn’t eye-catching enough, his later appearances – or lack of – have added layer after layer of intrigue to a man whose sudden emergence has raised eyebrows worldwide.
His triumph at last year’s Olympics, in a European record time of 9.80 seconds, came just three months after breaking the 10-second barrier for the first time.
History hasn’t always looked kindly at athletes who make huge strides in short periods, and questions were asked of Jacobs, 27, when it was revealed he was associated with a nutritionist, Giacomo Spazzini, who was involved in a police investigation into the distribution of anabolic steroids in March 2021. Spazzini has since been cleared of any wrongdoing by an Italian court, while Jacobs told Telegraph Sport this year that he had used “absolutely no” illegal substances.
“I understand people were surprised, but that’s because for most people my name came up in their homes at the Olympics,” he added. “My victories represent extremely hard work – hard work that no one saw, hard work that was blood, sweat, tears and injuries.”