Lamont Marcell Jacobs Jr. (; born 26 September 1994) is an Italian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprinter and former

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er. He is the 2020 Olympic 100 metres champion, the 2022 60 metres world champion, the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and 2024 European 100 metres champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning relay team at the

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He currently holds the 100 metres European record, the 60 metres European record, and is the first Italian to qualify for or win the men's 100 metres Olympic final.

Early life

Jacobs is the son of Viviana Masini, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

woman, and Lamont Marcell Jacobs Sr., an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

serviceman. His parents met when his father was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

soldier serving at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy. His father was 18 and his mother was 16 at the time. His parents married and relocated to

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1848, the fort was renamed in 1854 to honor William Wallace Smith Bliss, Bvt.Lieut.Colonel William W.S. Bliss (1815–1853 ...

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Three years later, Jacobs was born. When he was three weeks old, his father was transferred to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and Jacobs moved to

Desenzano del Garda Desenzano del Garda () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy, on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda. It borders the communes of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Lonato, Padenghe sul Garda, and Sirmione. History T ...

, in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, with his mother. His parents split when he was six months old. He started out playing basketball and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, where his football coach, Adriano Bertazzi, took notice of his speed and suggested that Jacobs try sprinting. When Jacobs was ten, he began competing in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. He preferred sprinting until he discovered the long jump in 2011.

Personal life

Jacobs lives in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

with his wife, Nicole Daza, and their two children. Jacobs has another son, born from a previous relationship when Jacobs was nineteen. Although Jacobs was born in the United States, he identifies as Italian. Jacobs had been estranged from his father since he was an infant; however, in 2020, he reestablished a relationship with him at the suggestion of his mental coach. He said that reconciling with his father gave him the motivation and peace of mind he needed to focus on winning in the Olympics.

Career

Long jump

In 2016, Jacobs won the

Italian Athletics Championships The Italian Athletics Championships () are the national championships in Athletics (sport), athletics, organised every year by the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera. The first edition, four races only, was held in 1906 at Arena Civica in ...

in long jump. With a personal best of 8.07 meters, he ranked tenth on the IAAF (now

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

) world-leading list at the end of the 2017 indoor season. At the 2016 Italian U23 Championships, he jumped 8.48 meters, the best performance ever for an Italian, although this result was not recognized as a national record due to a 2.8 m/s tailwind, which was 0.8 m/s above the allowable maximum for any record performance. Jacobs did not participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics due to a hamstring injury.

Sprinting

In 2019, Jacobs decided to focus his efforts exclusively on sprinting, citing frequent injuries while long jumping among the reasons for this switch. In July 2019, Jacobs lowered his 100 metres personal best to 10.03 seconds, making him the third-fastest Italian in history. On 6 March 2021, Jacobs won the 60 metres European title at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships held in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

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, setting a new national record and worldwide season-best with a time of 6.47 seconds. On 13 May 2021, in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

, Jacobs set the Italian record in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

with a time of 9.95 seconds, becoming the 150th person in history and the second Italian, after Filippo Tortu, to break the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less ...

. On 26 June 2021, into a headwind of −1.0 m/s in

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the fronti ...

, he broke the Italian championship record with a time of 10.01 seconds, winning his fourth national title in a row.

2020 Olympics

Jacobs won his first 100 metres heat at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in 9.94 seconds, improving his own Italian record by 0.01. In the semi-final, he was third with a time of 9.84 seconds, setting a new European record and qualifying for the final with the third overall fastest time. He is the first Italian to ever reach an Olympic 100 m final. In the final, Jacobs won the gold medal with a time of 9.80 seconds, beating

Fred Kerley Fredrick Lee Kerley ( ; born May 7, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter. He was the Olympic silver medalist over 100 m at the 2020 Olympics and bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in the same event. Kerley has earned an additional s ...

(9.84) and

Andre De Grasse Andre De Grasse (born 10 November 1994) is a Canadian Sprint (running), sprinter. A seven-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the 2020 Olympic champion in the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres, 200 m, and also won the ...

(9.89). Jacobs is the first Italian to win the gold medal in the event, and the first European to win since

Linford Christie Linford Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former Sprint (running), sprinter and athletics coach. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes ...

won the event at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. His effort broke the European record he set in the semi-final earlier that day, recording the fastest time ever run by an athlete that is neither American nor Jamaican. Due to this performance, Jacobs is tied with

Steve Mullings Steve Mullings (born 28 November 1982) is a Jamaican former sprint athlete who specialized in the 100 and 200 metres events. In 2011 he was given a lifetime ban for doping. Career Mullings began his international athletics career with a bronze ...

as the 10th fastest man of all time. Jacobs was not favored to win the race, with

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

s giving him a three percent chance of winning. Jacobs later won a second gold medal in the

4 × 100 metres 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

as part of the Italian relay team, along with

Lorenzo Patta Lorenzo Patta (born 23 May 2000) is an Italian sprinter who won a gold medal in relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. On 13 May 2021, running in Savona in 10.13, he established the 7th Italian all-time performance on 100 m and a ...

Fausto Desalu Eseosa Fostine "Fausto" Desalu (; born 19 February 1994) is an Italian sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres winning a silver medal in that event at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2020 Summer O ...

and Filippo Tortu. It was the first time Italy had ever won this event, and also the first time Italy had earned a medal in the event in 73 years. Jacobs ran the team's second leg (split time: 8.925), contributing to its total run time of 37.50 seconds, setting a new Italian record. Due to his outstanding achievements, Jacobs was selected by the

Italian Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in ItalyWithin Italy, CONI recognizes 48 national ...

to be Italy's flag bearer during the Olympics

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. Jacobs ended his season shortly after the Olympics, citing fatigue, and cancelling two upcoming

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

appearances. After the Games, it was reported that Giacomo Spazzini, who had worked as Jacobs' nutritionist, was involved in a steroid investigation in Italy. In response, Jacobs' agent stated that the athlete had cut ties with Spazzini several months before the Olympics. In 2022, the investigators established that Spazzini himself was a victim of collaboration with a person who turned out to be a fake doctor: the biologist Antonio Armiento who negotiated a sentence of 1 year and 11 months and 20 days for falsely declaring he was a doctor and free prescription of antihistamines and diuretics.

2021/2022 indoor season

Jacobs returned to competition in February 2022, winning the 60 m race at the

ISTAF Indoor The ISTAF Indoor is an indoor track and field meeting which takes place at the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany. The inaugural edition took place on March 1, 2014. Since 2021 the ISS Dome in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of Nor ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with a time of 6.51. In subsequent races, which included winning the national 60 m indoor title, he lowered his season best to 6.49, arriving at the world indoor championships in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

with the 5th fastest time in the season. In his semi-final he equalled the world leading time of 6.45, held by pre-championship favorite and world record holder

Christian Coleman Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He ...

and Bahamian sprinter

Terrence Jones Terrence Alexander Jones (born January 9, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Piratas de Quebradillas of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. High sc ...

, setting a new national record. In the final he edged Coleman by 3 thousands of a second setting a new European record of 6.41, winning the gold medal and becoming the 4th fastest man in history on such distance.

2022 outdoor season

Jacobs was supposed to start his outdoor season competing in the 100 metres at the 2022

Kip Keino Classic The Kip Keino Classic is a track and field meeting held at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya and named after Olympian Kipchoge Keino. The inaugural edition took place in 2020 as part of the inaugural World Athletics Continental Tour The W ...

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, however he missed his debut after being hospitalised for a gastrointestinal infection. He officially opened his outdoor season with a time of 10.04, winning an international meet in

, after changing his original plan of competing in the 200 metres. Having sustained a slight injury to his

biceps femoris The biceps femoris () is a muscle of the thigh located to the posterior, or back. As its name implies, it consists of two heads; the long head is considered part of the hamstring muscle group, while the short head is sometimes excluded from this ...

, he took the decision to withdraw from three

meets which were on his calendar. Having had to withdraw before the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

of the 2022 World Championships due to a thigh injury, at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

in Munich, Jacobs won the 100 m final in a time of 9.95 seconds, beating reigning champion

Zharnel Hughes Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995) is an Anguilla-born British Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great ...

into the second position (9.99s), with

Jeremiah Azu Jeremiah Azu (born 15 May 2001) is a Welsh sprinter. He is the 2025 European Indoor Champion and 2025 World Indoor Champion over 60 metres. In 2024, he became the first Welshman to run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds in wind-legal conditi ...

completing the podium with a time of 10.13.

Statistics

European records

: 9.80 (+0.1 m/s;

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, 1 August 2021). Current holder *

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

: 6.41 (

, 19 March 2022). Current holder

National records

* relay: 37.50 (

, 6 August 2021), he ran second leg in the team with

, Filippo Tortu.

Progression

;100 m

International competition

Other meetings

National competitions

: * Denotes senior level national champion.

National titles

Jacobs won nine national championships at individual

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

level. *

**100 m:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

(5) **Long jump:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

(1) *

Italian Athletics Indoor Championships The Italian Athletics Indoor Championships () are the national championships in athletics of the indoor events, organised every year by the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera from 1970 (first edition was held in Genoa). Titles assigned conce ...

**60 m:

(2) **Long jump:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

(1)

Track records

As of 24 September 2024, Jacobs holds the following track records for

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Marcell 1994 births Living people Italian male long jumpers Italian male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Italy Athletics competitors of Fiamme Oro Italian people of African-American descent American people of Italian descent Sportspeople from El Paso, Texas Athletes from Brescia World Athletics Championships athletes for Italy Italian Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Indoor Championships winners Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic male sprinters World Athletics Indoor Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Italian sportsmen