Sprint champion Jacobs hoping to find missing pieces at European Championships

Lamont Marcell Jacobs has struggled in recent years to match the level he displayed during his 100 metres victory at the Tokyo Olympics, but the Italian said he is still hopeful of finding his groove ahead of his defence at the Paris Games.

Jacobs, who became the first Italian to win the men's 100m in Tokyo in 2020 and also won gold in the 4x100m relay, will compete at the European Athletics Championships meet in Rome this week.

The 29-year-old has failed to dip under the 10-second mark since winning the previous edition of the European Athletics Championships in 2022, and split with long-time coach Paolo Camossi in 2023.

"I had to change a few things and start from scratch last year," Jacobs told reporters on Thursday. "But I am now confident about my chances. With my coach I am in a phase where we are working a lot on the technical side.

"Only by competing do you put pieces together. The last competition gave me a lot but still a lot is missing. Hopefully here I will fit together more pieces.

"We still have a couple of months until the Olympics and there is time to fine-tune a few things to get into perfect shape. But I am confident when I run that the time will be there automatically."

The athletics competition at the Paris Olympics will take place from August 1-11 at the Stade de France.