The Italian Marcell Jacobs, 2021 Olympic champion in the 100m, has ended his collaboration with Paolo Camossi, the coach who led him to the top of the queen discipline of athletics, he announced to less than a year from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“Together we wrote the history of athletics, Italian and world. We have experienced very strong moments together, but in life there are cycles and we came to the conclusion that the time had come to take different paths,” Jacobs confided in Tuesday’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I understood that I needed a total change, also in terms of motivation. I want to train in a new place, find athletes to train with, who push me and who help me in the most demanding moments of winter preparation,” he continued.
Under the direction of Camossi, a former triple jumper crowned world indoor champion in 2001, Jacobs, born in Texas to an American father who quickly disappeared from his life, and an Italian mother, caused a sensation in Tokyo in becoming Olympic champion in the 100m and 4x100m relay.
Since then, he 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 the semi-finals of the World Cup. 2023 last month in Budapest.
Jacobs, who turns 29 on September 26, has not yet identified his new coach and new base camp, since it is certain that he will leave Rome.
“I have a lot of ideas, all that remains is to bring them to fruition,” he explained, leaving the door open to a departure abroad.
“I am looking for a way of working that allows me to maintain perfect physical condition, with mobility, stretching and preventative exercises to avoid glitches and problems,” he added.
“It’s a new start to find the Marcell of Tokyo,” hoped Jacobs who won the silver medal in the 4x100m relay with Italy at the 2023 World Championships.
“The goal for next season is to feel good: if I’m healthy, I can run fast and no one in the last two World Championships has run faster than my 9 sec 80/100th (in the final ) from Tokyo,” he concluded.