Tokyo Olympics: Jacobs claims historic 100m gold for Italy

Lamont Marcell Jacobs claimed an historic gold medal in the men's 100 metres final at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

The first Italian man ever to reach the final at the Games, Jacobs won in a time of 9.80 seconds, breaking the European record he set in the semi-final.

Fred Kerley of the United States took silver, with Canada's Andre de Grasse winning bronze just as he did five years ago in Rio de Janeiro.

The three medallists all claimed personal bests as all finishers went under 10 seconds, Nigeria's Enoch Adegoke pulling up injured around the halfway mark.

The first Olympic 100m contest in the post-Usain Bolt era had been difficult to predict and that continued in the semi-finals, as USA trials winner Trayvon Bromell, the fastest man in the world this year heading into Tokyo, failed to qualify with a time of 10.00.

The quickest times were in the third semi-final, won by 60m expert Su Bingtian, who smashed the Asian record with a time of 9.83 to become the first man from the continent to reach the Olympic 100m final since 1932.

He finished just ahead of Ronnie Baker (9.83) and Jacobs, who set a new continental best of 9.84.

After Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes was disqualified for a false start, Su this time could not get the explosive start he needed and he was effectively out of the medals before the last third of the race.

Kerley, who has come down from the 400m to try his hand over the shortest distance, looked strong in lane five but it was Jacobs who turned on the power over the closing metres before running to celebrate with compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, who claimed joint high jump gold shortly before the race.

2004 - Italy have won two gold medals in athletism in a single Olympic Game - Marcell #Jacobs in 100m and Gianmarco #Tamberi in high jump - for the first time since Athens 2004 (Baldini, marathon - Brugnetti, 20 km walk). Crazy.#Tokyo2020 #Olympics #Olympics2020 pic.twitter.com/xvwVNG8jfX

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) August 1, 2021