Marcel Jacobs, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo last summer, became the Italian champion in the 100 meters at the start of his return to competition.

Jacobs has competed in only two races in the 100m since surprising the world in the summer of 2021 when he became the Tokyo Olympic champion.

During this meeting, Jacobs suffered a minor thigh strain, according to an examination he performed on the 23rd of the same month, and was forced to withdraw from the Diamond League events in Eugene (USA), Rome and Oslo. (Norway) before he received the go-ahead in the middle of this month to return to the exercise tournament after recovery.

The 27-year-old became Italian champion on Saturday against Rieti after clocking 10.12 seconds three weeks before the World Championships to be hosted by Eugene in Oregon, USA, July 15-24.

Jacobs felt that “coming back to competition is good. The return was important in order to regain the senses” of being on the track, according to the Italian television “Ray Sport”.

He confessed: “I am not yet able to handle a full 100m race (i.e. qualifying and final), especially since I have to run two races in an hour … In training, I used a moderate pace … In the final race, I there were some difficulties and I decided to lighten things up a bit to avoid contractions or other strange things.”

Next Thursday, Jacobs will take part in the meeting in Stockholm, which will be his last competitive preparation before the Eugene World Championships.