by Stuart Weir
The Men’s 100 meters was a mesmerizing race, with Marcell Jacobs taking the win after battling a series of injuries in 2022. Stuart Weir wrote this piece from the media stands in Munich’s Olympic stadium.
Men’s 100m
There were two questions in my mind as we settled down to watch the men’s 100m final. The race seemed to be Lamont Jacobs’ to lose, but what kind of form and fitness did he have? Secondly, with three British athletes in the final, how would that translate into medals?
Jacobs was the surprise winner of the Tokyo Olympics but has struggled with fitness much of the time since. If there was a chink in his armor, could Zharnel Hughes find it?
After the hilarity – not for him – of Jack Ali Harvey getting the full set of cards, being shown green (along with everyone else), then yellow, and finally red, the semi-finals got underway. Jacobs was fastest in 10:00, from Hughes at 10:03. Reece Prescod (10.10) and Jeremiah Azu (10:17) also made the final.
Hughes was the reigning European Champion who had run 9.95 to win in Berlin 2018. In 2021 he had run 9.98 in the Olympic semi-final only to false-start in the final, as he had in the 2021 UK Championships. In Oregon this year, he had run 9.97 in the prelim but only 10.13 in the semi, not making the final.
Reece Prescod had run a PR of 9.93 earlier this year in Ostrava and a windy 9.94 at the GB champs, but in Oregon, had exited in the prelim with 10.15. In the Tokyo Olympics, he had false started in the semis. In a press briefing reported on RunBlogRun, Prescod had said that he had an obsessive personality and had been close to being addicted to fast food and computer games. He said that he had now sold his device and changed his diet.
Jeremiah Azu was the surprise winner of the GB champs, running two windy sub-10-second times. He was fifth in the recent Commonwealth Games in what was becoming a real break-out season.
The result was:
1 Lamont Jacobs 9.95
2 Zharnel Hughes 9.99
3 Jeremiah Azu 10.13
7 Reece Prescod 10:18
Azu, running blind in lane 8, produced a PR performance to take an unexpected bronze. Hughes went sub-10 but could not quite catch Jacobs. Prescod was only 0.05 from a medal but by such small margins are titles won.
Hughes commented: “I’m happy. It has been a tough season, and to come out here and deliver, I am very proud of myself. I am very proud of Jeremiah. He was in the zone from the heat and then he came out and did it again. I wanted the gold medal. I was close with every possible stride I could give, but Jacobs was just better than me tonight.
Azu said: “I saw first come up, I saw second come up, and I said ‘surely I have done enough to get third,’ and I was waiting and waiting and waiting and I saw my name and just screamed. I ran a PB. People back home know how much of a struggle it has been. There have been a lot of things going on behind the scenes, but I am still showing up. I came away with a medal – I am grateful. I’ve had a windy 9.9 – I need to make that legal now”.
It looks good for the relay.
