Marcell Jacobs

Jacobs claimed the long jump event at the 2016 Italian Athletics Championships. At the conclusion of the 2017 indoor season, he was tenth on the IAAF (now World Athletics) world-leading list with a personal best of 8.07 meters. He set a new record for an Italian at the Italian U23 Championships in 2016 with a leap of 8.48 meters, however a 2.8 m/s tailwind prevented this effort from being recognized as a national record. In 2019, Jacobs made the decision to devote all of his energy to sprinting. He mentioned frequent injuries incurred during long-jump as one of the causes for this change. Jacobs became the third-fastest Italian in history in July 2019, lowering his 100-meter personal best time to 10.03 seconds.

At the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Toru, Poland, on March 6, 2021, Jacobs won the 60-meter European title, setting a new national record and a season-best mark for the entire world with a time of 6.47 seconds.  Jacobs became the 150th person in history and the second Italian to breach the 10-second barrier on May 13, 2021, at Savona, Italy, setting the Italian record in the 100 meters with a timing of 9.95 seconds. He won his fourth consecutive national title on June 26, 2021, in Rovereto, breaking the Italian championship record with a time of 10.01 seconds into a headwind of -1.0 m/s.

Jacobs won his first 100m heat in 9.94 seconds at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking his personal Italian record by 0.01. He qualified for the final with the third-fastest time in the semi-final with a mark of 9.84 seconds, breaking the previous European record. He also became the first Italian to ever compete in a 100-meter final at the Olympics. Jacobs defeated Fred Kerley (9.84) and Andre De Grasse in the final to win the gold medal in a timing of 9.80 seconds (9.89). He became the first Italian to capture the gold medal in this event and the first European to do it since Linford Christie in 1992 in Barcelona. Later, Jacobs and the Italian relay team claimed a second gold medal in the 4 X100 meter race. It was the first time the country had ever won this competition in 73 years. For his exceptional accomplishments, he was chosen to carry the Italian flag during the Olympics’ closing ceremony by the Italian Olympic Committee.

In February 2022, Jacobs made a comeback and won the 60-meter race at the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin with a timing of 6.51. He beat Coleman by three thousandths of a second in the World Indoor Championships final, achieving a new European record of 6.41. After winning the gold, he moved up to the fourth fastest athlete in history in the distance. Jacobs had to retire from the World Championships 2022 before the semi-finals owing to a thigh injury.  Jacobs won the 100m final at the European Championships in Munich in 9.95 seconds, defeating the reigning champion Zharnel Hughes.

His greatest rival at present is the United States’ Fred Kerley.  Although Fred initially started as a quarter miler, he switched to 100 m and 200 m sprinting in 2020. Since then, he has been doing exceptionally well in both the events.

Jacobs is the child of Lamont Marcell Jacobs Sr., an African American serviceman, and Viviana Masini, an Italian woman. His parents met while his father was stationed in the United States Army in Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy. His mother was 16 years old and his father was 18 years old. The couple moved to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, after being married. Jacobs was born three years later. When Jacobs was three weeks old, his mother went to Desenzano del Garda in the Lombardy region of Italy while his father relocated to South Korea. At the age of six months, his parents separated.

He began by playing basketball and football, and his football coach, Adriano Bertazzi, noticed Jacobs’ quickness and suggested him to try sprinting. Jacobs started participating in athletic competitions when he was ten. Prior to discovering the long jump in 2011, he preferred sprinting. Jacobs absolutely identifies as an Italian even though he was born in the United States. Jacobs, his wife Nicole Daza, and their two kids reside in Rome.  Jacobs has another son from a past relationship, who was born when Jacobs was 19. On the advice of his psychological trainer, he resumed a contact with his father in 2020. He stated that making things right with his father gave him the strength and comfort he required to concentrate on succeeding in the Olympics.