Olympic champion Jacobs suffers defeat in European Indoor Championships

Olympic 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs suffered a surprise defeat to his Italian teammate Samuele Ceccarelli in the 60m at the European Indoor Championships on Saturday.

Jacobs, who appeared to have suffered an injury in winning his semi-final in Istanbul, was slower out of his blocks in the final than the fast-starting Ceccarelli who won in 6.48sec to Jacobs’ 6.50 for second. 

Henrik Larsson of Sweden took the bronze medal in 6.53 while one of the pre-race favourites, British sprinter Reece Prescod, made a disastrous start and finished last.

Ceccarelli, an indoor specialist who barely features among Europe’s best in the 100m outdoors, showed that his victory over Jacobs in the Italian indoor championships had been no fluke.

In the women’s 400m, there was a far smoother ride for world record holder Femke Bol who pulled away from her competitors as she entered the second lap and strode clear to win in 49.86. 

The Dutch athlete’s time was more than half a second slower than the world record she set in February but it was easily enough for her to beat her Dutch training partner Lieke Klaver and retain the title she won in 2021.

Bol’s performances this winter, and increased speed over the flat, have whetted the appetite for her clashes to come with American world and Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles outdoors.

Karsten Warholm, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the men’s 400m hurdles, won the men’s 400m title despite tying up badly at the end of the second lap and nearly being caught on the line by Julien Watrin of Belgium.

Warholm was timed at 45.35. Watrin was rewarded with a national record of 45.44 for pushing the Norwegian into a dip finish.

In the women’s 1500m, Britain’s Laura Muir broke away at the bell for the final lap and was a class above the field, finishing in 4:03.40 to take the title at these championships for the third time.

Claudia Mihaela Bobocea of Romania won the silver.

There was another emotional gold medal for home nation Turkey, still mourning the tens of thousands dead from a devastating earthquake in the south of the country, when Tugba Danismaz won the women’s triple jump.

Her jump of 14.31m pipped Deriya Derkach of Italy who reached out to 14.20m.