Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs defeated by teammate at European Indoor Championships

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Lamont Jacobs suffered another surprise defeat in the 60 metres at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Saturday. Jacobs lost to Italian teammate Samuele Ceccarelli, who won gold in 6.48 seconds to Jacobs’ 6.50 seconds.

Italy’s Samuele Ceccarelli takes down his compatriot and Olympic 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs 6.48 to 6.50 for the European Indoor 60m gold medal. 🥇

Jacobs appears to be nursing an injury again. pic.twitter.com/GBo0VYLz2H

— Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez) March 4, 2023

Jacobs got out of the blocks well, but found himself behind Ceccarelli in the first 30 metres. Ceccarelli pulled away in the closing stages, edging out the 2022 60m world champion by two one-hundredths of a second.

This was Ceccarelli’s second time beating Jacobs this season, defeating him two weeks prior at the Italian national indoor championships. 

Jacobs was seen grabbing at his hamstring as he exited the track. Last season, the 28-year-old sprinter was forced to drop out of several races from a hamstring injury suffered in training.

Jacobs confirmed to the media that he’d been nursing a hamstring problem. “This is not the medal I wanted,” said the reigning 100m Olympic champion. “My leg wasn’t the best today, but my teammate did great.”

Two months ago, Ceccarelli, 23, was unknown to the professional scene and had a 60m personal best of 6.61 seconds. His victory on Saturday showed that his previous win over Jacobs at the Italian indoor championships was not a fluke.

Henrik Larsson of Sweden took the bronze medal in 6.53 seconds, while one of the pre-race favourites, British sprinter Reece Prescod, stumbled out of the blocks, finishing last.