Italian Lamont Jacobs secures shock gold medal win in the 100m final in 9.8s ahead of American Fred Kerley and Canada's Andre De Grasse - but Team GB's Zharnel Hughes is DISQUALIFIED
- Zharnel Hughes heartbreak after cramp led to his false start and disqualification from the men's 100m final
- The Brit had been hoping to at least gain a medal after winning his semi-final with a season best time
- Instead Lamont Marcell Jacobs took Italy's first ever gold medal in the 100m and Europe's first since 1992
- USA's Fred Kerley took silver and Andre De Grasse grabbed bronze for Canada with top three recording PBs
- Click here for the up-to-date medals table at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Find out the latest Tokyo Olympic news including schedule, medal table and results right hereAfter the what came the who and after the who came the how. If these Olympics are considered a concession to madness, then it is rather appropriate that a middling long jumper leapt out of left field and right to the top of the men’s 100m podium on Sunday night.
It was always said that the retirement of Usain Bolt would bring a little taste of the unexpected back into the business of running short distances. But no one said anything about this. No one said anything about an Italian named Marcell Jacobs.
It was baffling. And astonishing. And absurd. And the sort of thing that tends to incite innuendo in a sport like athletics.
Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs took a shock gold medal in the men's 100m final - the country's first ever in the event
The Italian took gold in front of USA's Fred Kerley and Andre De Grasse of Canada with all three setting personal best timesTo sum up the basics of how it played out, he made it from gun to tape in 9.80sec, a quicker time than Bolt ran in the same race at Rio 2016, and in his wake were Fred Kerley of the US and Canada’s Andre de Grasse. A fraction behind them were all manner of questions.As Kerley put it: ‘I really didn’t know anything about him.’
He wasn’t alone, and to put this sudden ascension into some kind of deeper context, consider that the 26-year-old was jumping into sand pits until 2018. He was no better than good at that gig – a 8.07m man at his best – and in truth he was never more than a decent sprinter. There was the European Indoor 60m title he won in March against a weak field, but the meaningful climb didn’t start until May, when he went under 10sec for 100m for the first time.
Chew over that for a moment – a line of succession that goes back through Bolt, Justin Gatlin, Maurice Greene, Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens has just been extended by a runner whose first sub-10 came 10 weeks ago. That being an athlete who had crossed that barrier only one further time before rocking up in Tokyo, and had never gone quicker than 9.95sec.
Irrespective of he pulled it off, he was a different man on this track, in this empty stadium. He drew a little attention by running 9.94sec in an otherwise slow set of heats, and then a lot with a European record of 9.84sec in finishing third in his semi-final.
By that point, there was finally a bubbling excitement about a final contested largely by unfamiliar names, but still the smart money was on De Grasse, the 2016 silver medallist, or Ronnie Baker of the US.
Team GB's Zharnel Hughes looks on after he is disqualified for a false start in the 100m final dashing his medal hopes
The Brit set off before the start of the race, later blaming cramp having set and that he could do very little to prevent it
Hughes is led away following his disqualification as the rest of the finalists get back into their marks in Tokyo
Such money would have been lost in the insanity of it all. When it was done, with Jacobs having passed Kerley at around 80m, he leapt into the arms of the Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, who a moment earlier had agreed to share a gold medal with Mutaz Barshim. For all of a few minutes, that split gold between flying men was the most surreal moment of the day, and then along came Jacobs, screaming as he crossed the line.
‘It's a dream, a dream, it is fantastic,’ said Jacobs. ‘It is a gold medal, it is for ever.
‘My scream was a scream that expressed all the pain from the past. Now it was a scream of joy. As an athlete you can’t always win. I have lost a lot of times but I have always returned and now I can say I have achieved a gold medal.’
Before long, the unpacking of his background began. He was born in the US to an Italian mother and an American father, and moved to Rome aged one. He hasn’t met his father and they only resumed speaking last year. ‘We had grown apart,’ Jacobs said. ‘My mental coach said the first thing I needed to do was establish again with my father. I had never gotten to know him. That gave me the energy and the will to be everything today.’
Jacobs (second right) made only a reasonable start but dominated the last 50 meters of the race to take a shock gold
Jacobs just pipped USA's Fred Kerley across the line in an extremely tight finish to take the gold medal for Italy
The three medallists stand proudly with their national flags having set personal bests in the 100m final
There are elements of this rise which will invite scepticism. Of all sports, athletics has surrendered the right to blind acceptance. But for now the Olympics can reflect on an almighty shock in the first 100m final not won by Bolt since 2004.
While Jacobs was having his moment, Britain were lamenting the latest indignity of a track and field programme that falls to new lows by the hour. In terms of this final, that meant Zharnel Hughes false starting to wreck all the promise shown by his 9.98sec run in the semi-final.
‘It wasn’t nerves,’ said Hughes, the European champion, who had also false started at the British trials in June. ‘My calf cramped when I went up on “set”, and with the cramp I moved, which is heart-breaking.’
Reece Prescod, Hughes’s team-mate, also false started his way to elimination in the semi-finals, the same stage at which the heavy US favourite Trayvon Bromell was knocked out.
That latter departure seemed like madness at the time. Madness was redefined soon enough.
COVERAGE OF THE 100m FINAL AS IT HAPPENED
Dan RipleyHost commentator
14:05More to come shortly, but what a night in the 100mThanks for following all - full report to come shortly...
14:00That is a first ever Italian 100m gold medalIt may not be a British medal, but it is a first for Europe in 29 years. Italy a bit greedy though - first the Euros now this! What a summer for them!
13:53Lamont Marcell Jacobs takes the gold medal for ItalyFred Kerley took silver for USA, with Andre de Grasse grabbing bronze for Canada - with all three setting personal bests.
13:52DISASTER! Hughes has made a false startAnd sadly, that means he is now OUT of the final. Christie did the same things at the Atalanta Games in 1996 as defending champion.
Then there were seven...
13:49The start will be underway shortly...Here is how they will line up, as the stadium decends into darkness and just the 100m track is lit in a light show. Tension very much building for the Olympics' blue ribband event. Can Hughes make history?
We will be underway in a few seconds...
13:46The athletes are out at the stadium...The reasons it is such an open final? The Olympic champion in Usain Bolt has retired, the fastest man in the world this year Marvin Bromell missed out in the semi-final after losing in Hughes' section and the world champion Christian Coleman is also out.
13:45It's been 29 years since Britian last tasted gold in this event...Linford Christie took gold for Britain at Barcelona in 1992, with a time of 9.96. That probably won't be enough today, but it is set to be a really open contest in Tokyo
13:31Team GB's Zharnel Hughes makes it into men's 100m Olympic final by winning his semi in a season-best
European champion Hughes won the semi-final with a time of 9.98 seconds, his fastest time of the season and his first sub-10 time of the year.
European champion Hughes won the semi-final with a time of 9.98 seconds, his fastest time of the season and his first sub-10 time of the year.13:26It's the most open 100m men's final in yearsAnd it could end with a British gold medal. Good afternoon all and welcome to our live coverage as Zharnel Hughes attemtps to snatch what would be a stunning gold medal in the men's 100m final.
Zharnel Hughes of Team GB will be competing in the men's 100m finalTeam GB will be chasing their first 100m gold medal since the Barcelona Games of 1992 when Zharnel Hughes lines up in lane four ahead of the final.
Hughes reached the final after impressively winning his semi-final, defeating this year's fastest man in Trayvon Bromell in the process.
With the field missing Bromell, the retired Olympic champion in Usain Bolt and the world champion in Christian Coleman, it is set to be the most open men's 100m final in a generation.
Follow Sportsmail's DAN RIPLEY for live coverage of the men's 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics, including build-up, the race itself and reaction.
No comments: