Jacobs storms to European indoor 60m title in world-leading 6.47
11574 Mins Read
Italy’s former long jumper Marcell Lamont Jacobs was the class of the field in the men’s 60m final as he powered home over the final 30 metres to finish with clear daylight between him and the rest of an evenly-matched field on paper in a national record of 6.47, a world lead and an Italian record.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy reacts after winning the men’s 60m final at the 36th European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Arena Torun, in Torun, north-central Poland, 06 March 2021. EPA-EFE/Adam Warzawa
After a brace of silver and bronze medals dating back to 2013, Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk won an outstanding women’s long jump final in dramatic fashion with a final effort of 6.92m, the furthest seen this year, bettering the lead held by Germany’s world champion Malaika Mihambo by four centimetres.
Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine competes in the women’s Long Jump final at the 36th European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Arena Torun, in Torun, north-central Poland, 06 March 2021. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski
The German’s effort to regain top spot with the final jump of the competition was huge – 7.07m, in fact – but she had taken off fully 29 centimetres ahead of the board and thus only registered 6.78m, thus having to settle for silver with 6.88m. When the final figures registered on the digital display the Ukrainian’s roars of triumph were clearly heard as she acclaimed another adornment for a CV that already includes silver medals at the 2018 European Championships and 2019 World Championships, finishing behind Mihambo on both occasions. The bronze medal went to Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia with 6.75m while the world leader prior to tonight’s competition Larissa Iapichino from Italy, who had jumped a world indoor U20 record of 6.91m at the Italian Indoor Championships, had to settle for fifth on her major senior debut with 6.59m.
Husillos triumphs in 400m thriller = Spain’s Oscar Husillos held off three Dutch rivals in the final straight to earn European indoor 400 metres gold tonight (6) – three years after he had seen victory in a European indoor record of 44.92 disappear through disqualification for lane infringement at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
Gold medalist Oscar Husillos of Spain reacts after the men’s 400m at the 36th European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Arena Torun, in Torun, north-central Poland, 06 March 2021. EPA-EFE/Adam Warzawa
But there was no holding the Dutch phenomenon Femke Bol as she lived up to all expectations to win the women’s 400m final with ease, improving her European list and national record by 0.01 as she clocked 50.63. The second evening session ended with a bang as Marcell Lamont Jacobs won 60m gold for Italy in a world lead of 6.47.
In the men’s 400m, Husillos was fully rewarded on this occasion for a bold front run, passing through halfway in 21.31 that saw him hang onto the lead in a season’s best of 46.22, his expression swiftly changing from agonised effort to relieved joy.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen appeared to have missed out on European indoor 1500m gold for the second successive time in Torun tonight after being disqualified for stepping off the track – only to have the decision reversed several hours later following a Norwegian appeal.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway competes in the men’s 3000m heats of the 36th European Athletics Indoor Championships at the Arena Torun, in Torun, north-central Poland, 06 March 2021. EPA-EFE/ADAM WARZAWA
In an official statement, the Jury of Appeal ruled: “Ingebrigtsen was pushed by another athlete and therefore stepped inside the curb. The athlete did not gain any advantage and did not affect the race and the outcome of it.” The original disqualification had allowed 33-year-old home runner Marcin Lewandowski to retain the title he earned after outsprinting his young rival in Glasgow two years ago as well as gold in Belgrade in 2017. But around midnight local time the official results once more showed the 20-year-old as gold medallist in a time of 3:37.56, with Lewandowski second in 3:38.06 and bronze going to Spain’s Jesus Gomez again in 3:38.47.
