This year’s Olympics will break all standards, inarguably. This can be said because the athletic line-up this season is as strong as ever. Looking beyond the US athletes, there are stars from other nations we can’t miss out on. Among them, a 29-year-old Italian track and field sprinter has an Olympic plan chalked out already.

With the European 100m and the European 60m records under his belt, the Olympian has been off the track due to a time defined by injuries. The 2020 Summer Olympics 100m and 4x100m relay gold medalist already boasts of a storied career. But will he make another entry at the Paris Olympics in 2024? And will it be worth it?

Olympic star Marcell Jacobs’ sights set strong

Olympic medalist Rori Dunk’s X post reads, “Marcel Jacobs shocked the world at the 2020 Olympics winning the 100m with 9.80 He also led Italy to a 4x100m gold over tough opposition He has since been plagued with injuries but is back healthy now training in Florida! Could he repeat his Tokyo success in Paris?” On one hand, there is speculation about his comeback. On the other hand, his track record holds up the events he had missed in the wake of injuries. According to news that surfaced on May 31, 2023, Jacobs’ absence from the Florence Diamond League ruled him out of the head-on with US track star Fred Kerley. Since he was already suffering from a nerve issue, his healing journey took him out.

From a June 2023 news, Jacobs’ athletic career since his triumph in Tokyo has been tampered with by injuries. A difficulty as a consequence of “piriformis muscle traction”, has cost many wins that could have been his. After close examination, experts have concluded that perineural inflammation with vascular stasis has affected his right thigh. A sport where legs play a pivotal role, sciatic pain in the legs had to halt an illustrious career.

Jacobs: An epitome of strength

When he headed into the Diamond League in Paris, he imagined himself trailing at the last, but he was still positioned seventh. “I hadn’t been training for around a month because of my physical issues, and even though I knew that I wasn’t at all ready to hit the objectives that everybody was hoping for, I decided to step onto the track anyway, knowing full well that lots of people wouldn’t understand that the result wasn’t the objective that I had set out to reach.”

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Amid him juggling his career and health, trolls and critics joked about his casual behaviour as an athlete. “In an instant it seemed like all the hard earned results were meaningless”, said he while questioning his fanbase he had built with blood and sweat. Now, as he reappears to defend his Olympic 100m title, will be regain all the love for his athleticism?

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