Marcell Jacobs clocked the third fastest time in 100m history – but his mark won’t count with a strong wind assisting him to a time of 9.67s.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion showed he still has serious sprinting speed as he powered away from the field in Eisenstadt.
Only Usain Bolt has ever run quicker than the Italian, but Jacobs was heavily aided by a tailwind of +4.1 m/s – more than double the allowable limit for a record eligible time.
It wasn’t just Jacobs running quickly, either. Great Britain’s Romell Glave ran a 9.76s, some way below his personal best set at UK Athletics Championship last month, while Wayde van Niekerk clocked 9.83s a decade on from winning Olympic 400m gold for South Africa in Rio de Janeiro.
Bolt’s 9.58s record has not been seriously challenged since the great Jamaican lowered his own mark at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009.
He holds the three fastest legal times in history, though rivals Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake managed to match his third-best time of 9.69s during the course of their careers.
Jacobs, meanwhile, has battled for form and fitness in the five years since claiming a stunning sprint double in Tokyo. The 31-year-old failed to make the final at the Worlds last year.
