European indoor champion Marcell Lamont Jacobs blasted to an Italian 100m record and sub-10 second clocking in his first individual race since winning over 60m in Torun at the Meeting di Savona on Thursday (13), the first European Athletics Area Permit Meeting of 2021.
Jacobs set an Italian 60m record and world lead of 6.47 at the Arena Torun in Poland just over two months ago and he gave further notice of his form with a blazing 8.91 relay leg in bitterly cold conditions in the 4x100m relay final at the World Athletics Relays in Silesia - which is also the venue for the Euroepan Athletics Team Championships Super League on 29-30 May - at the start of the month.
Making the most of the more conducive conditions on offer for sprinters in Savona, Jacobs translated this promise to the 100m - the event he will be contesting at the Olympic Games later this summer - by powering to an Italian record of 9.95 in the heats to propel him into the top-10 on the European all-time list.
His mark eclipsed the previous record held by Filippo Tortu - who was due to compete before withdrawing earlier this week with a small injury - by four-hundredths. Based on how relaxed Jacobs looked in the heats, a faster time seemed on the cards in the final but the 26-year-old withdrew as a precaution.
"I didn't realise what happened, I'll do it tonight, when I'm in bed and I already know I won't fall asleep,” Jacobs told the Italian athletiecs federation website.
“I would have liked to run the final but while I was warming up I had a small cramp in my calf and I didn't want to risk anything, as it is only the first race of the season. My goal was to go under ten seconds and I did it.”
Even though Jacobs did not take his place in the final, there was still an Italian winner. Lorenzo Patta, 20, shattered his lifetime best from 10.31 to 10.13 to climb to seventh on the Italian all-time list.
After an abbreviated indoor season, treble European champion Dina Asher-Smith cruised to victory on the quick track - a Mondotrack WS surface installed by European Athletics' Partner Mondo - in the 200m in 22.56 ahead of teammate Beth Dobbin (23.06) in her first race at the distance since striking gold at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
Asher-Smith’s next race will be in 10 days’ time over 100m at the Gateshead Diamond League meeting where she will face a loaded field including Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah and the USA's world leader Sha’Carri Richardson.
Former European U20 silver medallist Alessandro Sibilio took a notable victory over former European senior champion Yasmani Copello from Türkiye in the 400m hurdles, 49.25 to 49.37, and world indoor U20 record-holder Larissa Iapichino opened her outdoor season with victory in the long jump with 6.56m.
Full results here.