Lamont Marcell Jacobs ended Jamaica's reign in the sprint events in the Summer Games, capturing a shock victory in the men's 100-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. Jacobs crossed the line in 9.8 seconds to give Italy its first-ever medal in this event.
Not much was expected from Jacobs heading into Sunday's final, given that he had not cracked the 10-second mark in this event until May of this year. Jacobs' experience in this event is definitely less than his esteemed rivals as he just decided to focus on the sprint race back in 2018. Prior to that, long jump was Jacobs' preferred event.
Jacobs defeats Kerley and De Grasse to become Olympics' newest sprint king
Jacobs, however, wouldn't be denied on Sunday, with the European indoor 60-meter champion posting a time that was even faster than Usain Bolt's winning mark in the Rio Olympics five years ago.
He carried the momentum of a strong start to edge past American Fred Kerley by just 0.04 of a second. Canada's Andre de Grasse finished in third place with a time of 9.89 seconds, capturing a bronze medal for the second Games running.
Kerley and De Grasse were stunned after the race by Jacobs' performance. Kerley admitted that he didn't know anything about Jacobs, while De Grasse thought that his main competition would be the Americans and not an Italian.
Yes, that Italian is the world's fastest man at the Tokyo Olympics. More importantly, Jacobs is the successor to Bolt, who won all nine Olympic sprints he ran in the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.
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Double delight for Italy as Tamberi wins gold in high jump after a tie with Barshim
It wasn't just Jacobs who stole Italians' hearts on Sunday as his compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi also won gold in the men's high jump. Tamberi decided to share the gold with Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim after both high jumpers cleared the 2.37-meter mark in the final. Many thought that event would go to a jump-off to decide the eventual winner, but both athletes opted to be joint winners instead.
Celebrations erupted from both athletes who had to overcome career-threatening injuries before clinching gold here in Tokyo. They are the first co-champions in an athletics event in the Olympics since American Jim Thorpe and Norway's Ferdinand Bie won in men's pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Games.
Another athlete who stole the show on Sunday in athletics was Yulimar Rojas. The Venezuelan finally added the Olympic gold to the world triple jump titles in her collection, shattering the world record with her final attempt of 15.67 meters. That surpassed the previous world record of 15.50 meters set by Ukraine's Inessa Kravets back in 1995.
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