The Italian Marcell Jacobs, 2021 Olympic champion in the 100m, will compete in his first race of the year in mid-April in Florida and will participate in the World Relay Championships in Nassau (May 4-5), he explained Tuesday to the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I think (starting the 2024 season) around mid-April with one or two 100m races, even if nothing is defined yet. Here at this time of year, you are spoiled for choice,” said Jacobs, based for several months in Jacksonville, Florida, where he trains under the direction of American Rana Reider.
He will then take part in the Relay Worlds, for his first objective of the season, with the Italian 4x100m relay, reigning Olympic champion and 2023 world vice-champion.
Jacobs, 29, has scheduled his arrival in Europe “around May 18-20” and will be based in Rieti, not far from Rome.
He will then take part in the Ostrava meeting on May 28 and a Diamond League meeting in Oslo (May 30) or Stockholm (June 2), before the 2024 European Championships in Rome (June 7-12). ).
Since his two Olympic titles in Tokyo, Jacobs has become world champion in the 60m in 2022 and European champion in the 100m the same year, but above all he has experienced two seasons punctuated by muscular problems and disappointments, such as his elimination in semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup in Budapest.
“Since arriving in Florida, everything has changed in five months in terms of strength, speed and execution. At the beginning, I had some doubts, today, I am happy with my choice,” assured Jacobs, whose training partners include the American Trayvon Bromell, the Canadian Andre De Grasse and the Japanese Sunny Brown.
“The habit of having champions at my side will be useful in racing (…) I am curious (about what it will give), I appreciate what I am experiencing, I am not in a hurry, the sensations are great, but if this is not confirmed at the Olympics, I would not be happy,” he concluded.
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