Following the victory of legend Usain Bolt, Italian Lamont Marcel Jacobs sensationally won the gold medal at the Olympic Games over 100 meters in Tokyo. Jacobs surpassed Canadian-Americans Fred Carey (9.84) and Andre de Grasse (9.89) on Sunday evening (local time) with a European record of 9.80 seconds to reach second and third place. Just minutes earlier, Italy’s Gianmarco Tambri won the gold medal in the high jump. The two athletes fell into each other’s arms after Jacobs crossed the finish line.
Bolt has long been the poster boy of the Olympics. The Jamaican showman won gold in the 100m and 200m in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. After his career ended in 2017, it was now about a successor. And for the first time since 2000, there was no Jamaican in an Olympic final over 100 metres.
Trayvon Bromell, who was chosen by Bolt as the gold favorite, did not experience this insane performance as a participant in Tokyo’s Twinkle Night. “Bromel is extremely promising,” the longtime athletic figure said of the 26-year-old.
Big disappointment for favorite bromel
However, the American is not leading the post-Bolt era. Bromell missed the final – by a thousandth of a second. In his semi-final he finished third with a time of 10.00 seconds over Nigerian Enoch Adegok. Adegoke was stopped with 9.995 seconds – with Bromell only one-thousandth more. Initially, only one-hundredths of a second are shown in the result log – but you can also see gaps of thousandths on the target movie.
A huge disappointment for Bromell, who ran the seventh-fastest pace in history in June at 9.77 seconds, but had to keep going. And for Jamaica’s Johann Blake, who used to be Bolt’s rival himself, it wasn’t enough for the big stage. The winner of the silver over 100m in London 2012 and the former world champion was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Chinese Su Bingtian surprisingly went past Ronnie Baker of the United States (both 9.83 seconds) in the semi-finals. Su Bingtian also set an Asian record. Jacobs had already set a European record in 9.84 seconds. Then came the finale – time to hold your breath! And even though surprise man Jacobs couldn’t be caught in the sprint finals, he certainly doesn’t come close to the entertaining and extraordinary athlete Bolt. “No one will immediately follow in Bolt’s footsteps,” World Federation president Sebastian Coe said earlier.
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