Italy’s Marcell Jacobs put his injury-plagued season behind him to the gold in the 100m sprints at the ongoing European Athletics Championships.
The Olympic Champion, who pulled out of last month’s world championships before the semi-finals after a flare-up of the thigh injury that has bothered him all season, comfortably got home in 9.95 seconds setting a new championship record in the process.
Defending champion Zharnel Hughes had to settle for silver after running a 9.99 ahead of fellow Briton Jeremiah Azu who finished in 10.13s.
Germany’s local hero Gina Lueckenkempe joined Marcell Jacobs as the 100m champion at the European Athletics Championships after winning the women’s race over the same distance by the slightest of margins.
Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland seemed to have the race in the bag until Lueckenkemper and Briton Daryll Nieta caught her in a blanket finish.
Lueckenkempe, a silver medallist four years ago, and Kambundji were both timed at 10.99 seconds but Lueckenkemper edged it by thousandths while Nieta took bronze after running 11.00s.
Fellow Brit and the defending champion Dina Asher-Smith, who won Bronze in the 200m at the World Championships, pulled up with a cramp halfway through the race.
Meanwhile, in other events, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen retained his 5,000m title while Germany’s former world champion Niklas Kaul won the decathlon title over Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer.
