Munich, Aug. 17 (BUS) – Italian Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs ended a turbulent season at the highest level by winning the 100m European title, on Tuesday, while local favorite Gina Lowickenkemper won the brilliant women’s race by five thousandths of a second.
Jacobs withdrew from the world championships last month ahead of the semi-finals after igniting a thigh injury he suffered all season but was in command throughout Tuesday’s final as he came home in 9.95 seconds, Reuters reported.
Defending champion Zharnel Hughes won the silver with a score of 9.99, ahead of Britain’s Jeremiah Azu (10.13).
“It’s been a tough season with issues, with the injury but my leg is not good,” Jacobs said. “I’m not happy about the way the race went technically, there were some problems, but I went over the moon and got the gold.
“After the Olympic gold, I’ve now got the European gold. I’ve got the world championship gold now. We’re also looking forward to the relay because the Italian team wants to excel there as well.”
It wasn’t quite so straightforward in the women’s race, with Switzerland’s Mujinja Kampunge seeming to have won until Lokenkemper and Britain’s Daryl Nieta eventually caught her.
The German, the silver medalist four years ago, and Kampunge both clocked in at 10.99 seconds but Loekenkemper beat them out in the thousand.
Nieta, who had a slow start again and failed to keep up with her time in the semi-finals, took the bronze at 11.00 but later said she was jerky before the race and was considering withdrawing. Fellow Briton and defending champion Dina Asher-Smith withdrew with a cramp midway through the race.
Norway’s Jakob Ingbrigtsen retained his 5,000m title in exemplary fashion, taking the lead with three laps remaining, concluding the pace and then outpacing his only remaining opponent, Spaniard Muhammed Kater, in the last 200 metres.
Former German world champion Niklas Kohl attracted 50,000 spectators, with his personal best of four minutes 10.04 seconds to win the final in the 1500m in the decathlon and fix Swiss Simon Hammer.
Ehammer made a big lead after nine events but finished 38 seconds off the winner and had to settle for the silver.
French world record holder and world champion Kevin Mayer withdrew on Monday after injuring his thigh in the opening 100 meters.
Greek Olympic long-jump champion Miltiadis Tintoglu retained his European title by a wide margin with a championship-record jump of 8.52 metres, but there was controversy behind him.
Britain’s Jacob Fincham-Dakes initially got a silver courtesy of his opening jump of 8.06 but Team France objected after the event ended, claiming it was a mistake.
The juvenile no longer uses the traditional plasticine indentation method and now has a laser beam to measure if the forefoot has penetrated the line.
Although no fault was indicated by the tech, the interception was upheld and the jump disqualified, lowering Fincham-Dukes’ standings to fifth and lifting Sweden’s Thobias Montler to second and France’s Jules Pommery in third – both with 8.06m jumps.
The British team is likely to launch a counter appeal.