Marcell Jacobs runs twice under 10 in Turku

*smirks* Problem, Noah?

Imagine the audacity, being a successful sprinter and not being American!

You would almost think that competition for Americans was illegal. Just remind me of what Justin Gatlin and Shelby Houlihan got up to again?

Usain Bolt: 9.58

I see this sometimes brought up...but....isn't his dad American and now he trains in the US? Like, I get it, you're Italian....but people have obviously switched to other countries on less warranted grounds. So. Come off it.

Let's also say the OTHER quiet part out loud; if he HAD gone with being "American", he wouldn't likely have even be an Olympic participant (at least not individually). Can't win a gold if you can't even get top three at the trials...

Come off what? The fact that his American father got together with his mother when she was only 16? Or the fact that he walked out on Marcell when he was 6 months old and left his 19 year old mother to bring up her baby as a single mother? Or the fact that he didn't see him again until he was 25? Maybe the fact that he grew up and was educated and started in athletics in Italy? Or came through the Italian athletics system, winning 9 Italian national championships?

Exactly as you said - a solid 10.0-10.1 guy - the 3 tenths of a second magical pop we saw in Tokyo is in line with the same performance leaps we have seen from other greater 100m "vitamin kings" (and queens) in history (Griffith-Joyner, Montgomery, Jones, Gatlin just to name a few).

Throw in that all this "form finding" just seems to happen in the 6 weeks before the Olympics despite all the "injury" stuff he is perpetually working through (that he claims himself and which also appears like some type of defensive justification logic).

There are athletes in the sport that do stuff. Not all, but there are. Without a word of a lie the guy I would be most confident in, is this cat. Shaking my head.

How well does winning 9 Italian champs compare to winning ANY US champs?

It doesn't matter if he hates his dad or not, that's instant citizenship. Instant access, if he wanted it. If anything, sneaking in through the back door of Europe is its own benefit, but let's not make this out like "you don't like it cause he's not AMERICAN!". He practically IS, for all intents and purposes, even if he "isn't" and he just wants to avoid it to his own benefit. Daddy issues or not.

Him not being American is irrelevant, except that he doesn't have to fight through he dog eat dog US trials, which are perhaps tougher overall than the Olympics or Worlds in the 100 and 200.

How do you explain his 2022 bookended by 6.41 world indoor gold and 9.95 European gold (run while working through injuries). Again I don’t presume to know if the guys doping but this is a guy who has shown form now in 4 distinct time periods.

Why would he "go with being "American"" when he was raised his whole life in Italy and didn't even speak English in 2021?

speaks the language at a native level... more than you can say about most american immigrant track and field athletes.

Has he ever given any indication that he would want US citizenship? What fantasy is this. He's Italian, he has the right to live in any EU country he chooses. US citizenship would simply mean he has to pay US taxes anywhere in the world in future that he chooses to settle. "sneaking in the back door" of what? The US isn't really a first world country, its on a par with India these days. I don't think theres any active avoidance of US citizenship on his part. He simply hasn't applied for it and clearly doesn't want it.

I'm pretty sure that the Italian state would disagree with you that he's American. His deadbeat dad certainly hasn't contributed to his upbringing, while the Italian taxpayer has.

I find it hard to believe that guy is serious. Jacobs has just gotten comfortable with his English in the last 18 months. He grew up in Italy and has a very Italian wife. He made a decision to train with a prominent US group and seems to enjoy being unnoticed unlike in Italy. But it sure seems like the guy will live in Italy when he retires. He certainly cares way more about the 4x100m and the national team than many Americans.

Also in Italy he was working with a jumps coach. After dealing with injuries all of 2023 he switched to Puma’s preferred sprint group. Makes sense to me

I’m a huge Marcell Jacobs fan. He’s got beautiful relaxed running form. If he had hair he would be unstoppable

LMAO

Honest question, do any of you even enjoy watching track and field anymore? Every single athlete gets accused of using PEDs by this forum like clockwork. Just stop following track if y'all are this miserable and cynical.

Not tested by USADA because he's not a USATF athlete, not sure who would test him in the United States except for WADA. He probably doesn't get tested much.

I'm not sure I get the hate for Jacobs, I'm far less suspicious of someone like him that is barely able to achieve world leading sprint times once a year, and frequently gets injured in the process than some of these guys that are seemingly able to run Ben Johnson level sprint times week in and week out all summer long. When you look at some of the other favorites for the Olympic 100m you've got guys like Christian Coleman, Ferdinand Omanyala, Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles and Jacobs is the suspicious one here?

Drugs alone are not going to give you the kind of top speed Jacobs has, that comes from his excellent running mechanics, which clearly puts more stress on his body than it can handle. Watching guys like Coleman, Omanyala and Kerley run the ridiculous times they do on a regular basis with their pretty mediocre top speed mechanics is suspicious as hell to me, these guys are just powering their way down the track with almost inhuman levels of strength and somehow never get hurt in the process.

He only seems to run fast in Olympic years...

Wow. I hadn't seen his 9.92 when I wrote this. He's still running injured, even yesterday, so I expect him to get even faster when he get's right.

Can some sprinter please tell me what is wrong with him looking at his races this season? It looks like a sore hamstring to me but I honestly have no clue.