No Usain Bolt for the first time since 2008 meant we were guaranteed a new champion iin the men’s 100 meters. Even with Bolt’s electric presence missing and a stadium without fans in Tokyo, the 100 final didn’t disappoint.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy won the first gold medal of his career in stunning fashion, running a time of 9.80, a personal best and a European record. Jacobs becomes the first Italian to win gold at the Olympics in the 100 meters.
Fred Kerley of the United States won silver by running a time of 9.84. Andre de Grasse of Canada took bronze with a time of 9.89.
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To make the anticipation even greater before the start of the race, Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes left the starting blocks early and was disqualified. That brought the field down to seven sprinters in an event where one could make an argument for nearly any competitor.
Following the disqualification, the second start was clean, with Kerley and Jacobs getting out of the blocks the best. Kerley, 26, appeared in replays to have a slight lead halfway through, but Jacobs pulled ahead in the final 20 meters for the clear victory. Right after winning, Jacobs ran into the arms of compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, who had moments before opted to tie with Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar to claim golds in the high jump.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs for the GOLD in the mens 100m final. Fred Kerley brings home the silver Other Hearst Subscriptions was not on the starting line. Bromell, who owns the fastest time in the world this year (9.77), ran a 10 flat in his semifinal heat—not fast enough to finish top-two in the heat and automatically advance him to the final. Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke got the nod for the second-place finish in the heat by way of a better lean that edged Bromell out by .004.
The third semifinal heat was the fastest—including China’s Su Bingtian winning in an Asian record of 9.83—knocking Bromell out of contention to make the finals on time alone. That left his U.S. teammates Kerley and Ronnie Baker to compete for a medal without him.
Kerley proved he could successfully transition from the 400 meters to the 100 meters for this Olympic cycle. In 2019, he won a bronze medal in the 400 meters and contributed to Team USA’s winning 4x400-meter relay at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Doha, Qatar. This season, he’s focused on the shorter sprint events. He opened 2021 with a time of 10.15 in March and has lowered the mark to 9.86.
This was Baker’s first Olympics Games, and he finished fifth in 9.95. In 2018, he earned his first world championship medal by finishing third in the 60 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, U.K. He showed he was possibly primed for a medal today when he ran a personal best 9.83 in the semifinals just a few hours earlier.
Sunday’s victory is by far the biggest for the 26-year-old, who also has a background in long jumping. Jacobs—who was born in El Paso, Texas, but has lived in Italy since he was a baby—has a silver medal in the 4x100 meters from the 2021 World Relays and was this year’s European indoor champion in the 60 meters.
