Italy’s double Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs on Friday marked his return to action for the first time since his shock win in Tokyo last year with victory in the 60m at an ISTAF outdoor event in Berlin.
Jacobs took time out from the sport since winning gold in the 100m and 4x100m in Tokyo, missing the five Diamond League events that followed his Olympic triumph, including the two-day finale in Zurich, Switzerland.
He showed no sign of rust in the German capital, winning his heat with ease, before going even faster in the final, crossing the line first in 6.51 seconds ahead of Ivorian Arthur Cisse and France’s Jimmy Vicaut.
Photo: Reuters
“Objective complete,” Jacobs said. “I wanted to do a time close to 6.50. Before the heats I had a bit of tension, then it passed and now my goal in this first part of the season, the indoor one, is to improve the European record over 60m.”
“Then I will try to honor the title I have earned in every race. I’m back, and I’m the same as always,” he added.
The former long jumper’s stunning win and rapid improvement — he broke the 10-second barrier for the first time three months before the Tokyo Games — led to some media reports highlighting past doping cases involving breakout athletics stars, but Jacobs said his success was purely down to his efforts.
Jacobs told the Daily Telegraph newspaper last week that he never has and never will take performance-enhancing drugs, while the Italian explained that he ended his season last year early because of exhaustion.
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
RSS