Jacobs snatches world gold from Coleman in the 60 meters indoors

The Italian athlete Marcell Jacobs, Olympic champion of the 100 meters, was proclaimed world indoor champion in the 60 meters, beating the defender of the title, American Christian Coleman in Belgrade on Saturday.

Coleman (6.41), who returns to the competition this season after 18 months of suspension due to failures to meet his location obligations for anti-doping controls, was overtaken in the 'photo finish' by Jacobs (6.41). American Marvin Bracy finished third in the final (6.44).

Jacobs was the European indoor champion last year in Torun (Poland), four months before his surprising performance at the Tokyo Olympics, where he hung the golds by surprise in 100 meters and in the 4x100 meter relay.

For Coleman, this defeat is painful. The American had been indoor world champion in 2018 and outdoors in 2019.

With his title in Belgrade-2022, Jacobs confirms himself as the current star of speed and as the man to beat in the main athletics event in 2022, the Eugene World Cup (14-25 July).

“I love these moments, when I win”, celebrated the Italian sprinter.

“They were really great rivals and Coleman is the world record holder, but I trust myself and my potential. I felt fit and I felt it might be time,” he added.

- From war to title -

Beyond that stellar end of the day, the emotional moment of the day was starred by Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who was proclaimed world champion in the high jump.

The young athlete, 20 years old, who had to leave her country in very difficult conditions and travel for three days to reach Belgrade, thus wins her first major international title, although she had already taken the podium at the Tokyo-2020 Games (3rd) and the Doha-2019 Open Air World Cup (2nd).

With a jump of 2.02 m she overtook Australia's Eleanor Patterson (2.00 m) and Kazakh Nadezhda Dubovitskaya (1.98 m), who completed the podium.

As soon as she was a champion, Mahuchikh surrounded herself with a flag of her country under the applause of the Serbian public.

“Before I hit the track, my spirit was completely focused on Ukraine by virtue of the terrible events that are happening. This medal is first and foremost for my country, for my people, for my army. I am very proud to have been able to represent them,” said Mahuchikh, one of the six members of the Ukrainian team, whose country was invaded by Russia at the end of February.

- Gold for Brazil and Spain -

Among the surprises of the day was the success of the Brazilian Darlan Romani in throwing the bullet, defeating the American Ryan Crouser.

Romani (30 years old) achieved the greatest success of his career reaching 22.53 meters, thus surpassing Crouser, world record holder, who stayed this time at 22.44 meters. The bronze went to New Zealand's Tomas Walsh (22.31 m).

This is the first defeat for two years for Crouser, double Olympic champion (Rio-2016 and Tokyo-2020), who also holds the world records outdoors (23.37 m) and indoor (22.82 m).

Darlan Romani, Pan American champion in 2019, had so far achieved his main metals in continental competitions.

At the previous Indoor World Cup, in Birmingham-2018, Romani had finished fourth, a position he also held at the Doha-2019 Outdoor World Cup and the Tokyo-2020 Olympic Games, held in 2021.

In the 800 meters, the Spaniard Mariano García was proclaimed champion with a time of 1:46 .20, ahead of the Kenyan Noah Kibet (1:46 .35), silver, and for the American Bryce Hoppel (1:46 .51), bronze.

The other world titles decided on Saturday were American Sandi Morris (pole vaulting), Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo (400m), Trinidadian Jereem Richards (400m), Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay (1,500m), France's Cyrena Samba-Mayela (60m hurdles) and Canadian Damian Warner (heptathlon).

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