# Marcell Jacobs
**Lamont Marcell Jacobs** (born 1994 in [El Paso, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-paso-texas)) is an Italian sprinter and former long jumper who won the men's 100 meters at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 9.80 seconds, a European record, and took a second gold in the 4 × 100 meters relay.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/144138) • [2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) He was the first Italian man to win the Olympic 100 meters and the first Olympic champion in the event after [Usain Bolt](https://www.edgepedia.org/usain-bolt)'s retirement.[3](https://time.com/6086297/lamont-marcell-jacobs-wins-100m-tokyo-olympics/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1994, El Paso, Texas, USA; competes for Italy[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/144138) |
| Tokyo 2020 | 100 m gold in 9.80 (European record, improved twice in one day from 9.84 in the semifinal); 4 × 100 m relay gold in 37.50, an Italian record[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) |
| Indoor titles | World indoor 60 m champion 2022 in Belgrade, 6.41 European record; European indoor 60 m champion 2021 in Torun, 6.47[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) |
| Outdoor titles | European 100 m champion 2022 (Munich) and 2024 (Rome), the Rome title paired with 4 × 100 m gold[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) |
| Paris 2024 | Fifth in the Olympic 100 m final in 9.85 (season best), reaction time 0.114[4](https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/results/men/100-metres/final/result) |
| Personal bests | 100 m 9.80 (Tokyo, 2021); 60 m 6.41 (Belgrade, 2022); long jump 8.48 (+2.8 m/s wind, 2016)[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) |
| Other | Police officer with G.S. Fiamme Oro Padova; three children[5](https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/66ca1f6b6c6a5aa79e8aee0c.pdf) |
## Early life and move to sprinting
Jacobs was born in El Paso to a U.S. serviceman father and an Italian mother, and moved to Italy with his mother as a baby.[6](https://www.axios.com/2021/08/02/olympic-sprint-champ-jacobs-reconnecting-with-us-dad-gave-me-desire-to-win) As a teenager he played basketball and football before his football coach Adriano Bertazzi, who was also an athletics coach, spotted his natural speed and suggested sprinting; at about ten years old he began training at the track in [Desenzano](https://www.edgepedia.org/desenzano) del Garda.[7](https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/marcell-jacobs-italy-sprinter-european-indoor) • [2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D)
[Long jump](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-jump) came first. From 2011 he competed in the long jump, setting an Italian junior indoor record of 7.75 m in 2013, clearing eight meters for the first time with 8.03 m at the 2015 indoor Italian championships, and jumping 8.48 m with a +2.8 m/s wind in 2016, the longest jump ever by an Italian at the time.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) In September 2015 he began training under Paolo Camossi, the 2001 world indoor triple jump champion, first in Gorizia and, from late 2018, in Rome.[7](https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/marcell-jacobs-italy-sprinter-european-indoor) After a knee problem he returned in 2018 as a sprinter, running 10.08, and in 2019 reached 10.03 and set an Italian 4 × 100 m record of 38.11 at the Doha World Championships.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D)
## Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic double
Jacobs had never broken ten seconds for 100 m before 2021.[8](https://apnews.com/article/04c81350d542c5a88c4a0394849db61b) In May 2021 he took the Italian record with 9.95 at Savona, becoming the second Italian under ten seconds, and won the European indoor 60 m title at Torun in 6.47 earlier that March.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [9](https://www.fidal.it/content/Tokyo-e-i-sogni-di-Jacobs-%E2%80%9CNessuna-pressione%E2%80%9D/134712)
On 1 August 2021 he won the Olympic 100 m final in 9.80, improving the European record twice in one day after 9.84 in his semifinal, ahead of [Fred Kerley](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-kerley) (9.84) and [Andre De Grasse](https://www.edgepedia.org/andre-de-grasse) (9.89).[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [3](https://time.com/6086297/lamont-marcell-jacobs-wins-100m-tokyo-olympics/) His reaction time in the final was 0.161.[10](https://worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/men/100-metres/final/result) Days later he ran the second leg for Italy in the gold-medal relay with Filippo Tortu, Lorenzo Patta, and [Eseosa Desalu](https://www.edgepedia.org/eseosa-desalu) in 37.50.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [16](https://www.rte.ie/sport/paris-2024/2021/0806/1239437-tokyo-2020-4-x100-relay-gold-for-italy-and-jamaica/) He was Italy's closing-ceremony flagbearer at those Games and received the Gold Collar for Sporting Merit from CONI in 2021.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/144138)
## 2022 to 2024: titles, injuries, and Paris
In 2022 Jacobs won the world indoor 60 m title in Belgrade, lowering the European record to 6.41, and added the European 100 m title in Munich in August.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) He took 60 m silver at the 2023 European indoors and relay silver at the 2023 Budapest World Championships, then in late 2023 left Camossi to join Rana Reider's Tumbleed Track Club in [Jacksonville, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacksonville-florida), citing the need for a daily training group and a coach unafraid of having the Olympic champion in an Olympic year.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [8](https://apnews.com/article/04c81350d542c5a88c4a0394849db61b)
In 2024 he won two European titles in Rome, defending his 100 m crown and taking the 4 × 100 m relay, then finished fifth in the Paris Olympic final in 9.85, the fastest Olympic final in history, in which [Noah Lyles](https://www.edgepedia.org/noah-lyles) beat Kishane Thompson by five thousandths of a second.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [4](https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/results/men/100-metres/final/result) • [11](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2024/08/05/paris-olympics-noah-lyles-wins-100-m-on-photo-finish-for-first-olympic-title_6709614_9.html) His 9.85 was his second or third fastest time ever and would have earned a medal at most previous Olympic finals.[4](https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/results/men/100-metres/final/result)
## 2025 and 2026
Jacobs returned to Camossi's guidance at the start of 2026 and ran under ten seconds again outdoors before recording 9.67 seconds with a +4.1 m/s tailwind at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in Eisenstadt, the fastest wind-assisted 100 m ever run and the third fastest in any conditions; the mark is not official because the legal wind limit is +2.0 m/s.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [12](https://as.com/masdeporte/jacobs-se-convierte-en-el-segundo-hombre-mas-rapido-de-la-historia-de-forma-ilegal-f202607-n/) His 2026 European 100 m final in [Birmingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/birmingham) ended with an injury, and an MRI in Rome showed a moderate, already-healing lesion of the pectineus muscle of the left thigh.[13](https://www.iltirreno.it/top-news-italpress/2026/08/12/news/agli-europei-jacobs-ko-nella-finale-dei-100-ali-sesto-1.100905671) • [14](https://ma.lapresse.it/sport-ma-ma/2026/08/19/athletisme-jacobs-souffre-dune-lesion-moderee-a-la-cuisse-gauche/)
## Racing profile
Jacobs is noted for a relaxed start and unusually high running on his toes, with foot placement close to behind his center of mass, and for reaching top speed late in the race; in Tokyo he peaked at 43.3 km/h.[15](https://sport.quotidiano.net/en/olimpiadi/velocita-finale-100-metri-a72c2c42) He is the first 100 m Olympic champion since 1996 to win gold without a recent top 200 m mark, and in 2022 became the third man in history to win Olympic and European 100 m gold back to back.[5](https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/66ca1f6b6c6a5aa79e8aee0c.pdf) He holds ten senior Italian titles across the 100 m, 60 m indoor, and long jump, and is a police officer with the Fiamme Oro sports group.[2](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D) • [5](https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/66ca1f6b6c6a5aa79e8aee0c.pdf)
## References
1. [Olympedia – Lamont Marcell Jacobs](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/144138)
2. [FIDAL – Lamont Marcell Jacobs athlete profile](https://www.fidal.it/atleta/Lamont-Marcell-Jacobs/dqqRlpuiaWs%3D)
3. [Time – Lamont Marcell Jacobs Wins 100-m Olympic Gold](https://time.com/6086297/lamont-marcell-jacobs-wins-100m-tokyo-olympics/)
4. [World Athletics – Paris 2024, 100 m men's final results](https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/results/men/100-metres/final/result)
5. [World Athletics – Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Lane 6 (Paris 2024 media guide)](https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/66ca1f6b6c6a5aa79e8aee0c.pdf)
6. [Axios – Olympic sprint champ Jacobs: Reconnecting with U.S. dad](https://www.axios.com/2021/08/02/olympic-sprint-champ-jacobs-reconnecting-with-us-dad-gave-me-desire-to-win)
7. [World Athletics – Third time lucky at European Indoors](https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/marcell-jacobs-italy-sprinter-european-indoor)
8. [AP News – Italian Olympic champion Jacobs reconnects with US family by moving to Florida](https://apnews.com/article/04c81350d542c5a88c4a0394849db61b)
9. [FIDAL – Tokyo e i sogni di Jacobs](https://www.fidal.it/content/Tokyo-e-i-sogni-di-Jacobs-%E2%80%9CNessuna-pressione%E2%80%9D/134712)
10. [World Athletics – Tokyo 2020, 100 m men's final results](https://worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/men/100-metres/final/result)
11. [Le Monde – Noah Lyles wins 100 m on photo finish](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2024/08/05/paris-olympics-noah-lyles-wins-100-m-on-photo-finish-for-first-olympic-title_6709614_9.html)
12. [AS – Jacobs se convierte en el segundo hombre más rápido de la historia... de forma ilegal](https://as.com/masdeporte/jacobs-se-convierte-en-el-segundo-hombre-mas-rapido-de-la-historia-de-forma-ilegal-f202607-n/)
13. [Il Tirreno – Agli Europei Jacobs ko nella finale dei 100](https://www.iltirreno.it/top-news-italpress/2026/08/12/news/agli-europei-jacobs-ko-nella-finale-dei-100-ali-sesto-1.100905671)
14. [LaPresse – Jacobs souffre d'une lésion modérée à la cuisse gauche](https://ma.lapresse.it/sport-ma-ma/2026/08/19/athletisme-jacobs-souffre-dune-lesion-moderee-a-la-cuisse-gauche/)
15. [Quotidiano.net – The speeds of the 100 meters final, meter-by-metre analysis](https://sport.quotidiano.net/en/olimpiadi/velocita-finale-100-metri-a72c2c42)
16. [Tokyo 2020: 4 x100 relay gold for Italy and Jamaica](https://www.rte.ie/sport/paris-2024/2021/0806/1239437-tokyo-2020-4-x100-relay-gold-for-italy-and-jamaica/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Athletics, gymnastics, and strength sports › Athletes of track and field and road running › Sprinters and hurdlers › Short sprinters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license