Tokyo (AFP)

Open as rarely, the 100 m sacred the unexpected Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs Sunday at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the first since the retirement of legend Usain Bolt, in an evening when Yulimar Rojas broke the world record for the triple jump.

In 9 sec 80, a new European record, Jacobs (26) beat the American Fred Kerley, a lap enthusiast who had never run a 100m high level before this year, and the Canadian Andre of Grasse, who finds the bronze as in Rio.

No facial expressions at the start, no record jumping off the sofa, no invisible arrow planted in the Tokyo sky at the finish.

The Olympic 100m and with it all the athletics definitely turned the page Usain Bolt on Sunday night.

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The straight has lost a legend and a certain sense of show, but it has gained in suspense!

In the dampness of the Olympic stadium (around 27 degrees and 74% humidity), the fastest men in the world carried the delicious thrill of uncertainty all evening.

The "teasing" was already good after the semifinals at the start of the session: the announced American favorite Trayvon Bromell was left at the door, like the 2012 Olympic runner-up Yohan Blake, depriving Jamaica of the final for the first time since Sydney in 2000, as a symbol.

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Jimmy Vicaut had also given in to the gates of the final in 10 sec 11.

The pressure was such that it blew up the Briton Zharnel Hugues, author of a rude false start in the final.

Solid from the start to the end of his race, it was Jacobs who gradually broke away from the pack, to stretch out his big, muscular, tattooed arms on the line.

- 23 hundredths in one year -

It was impossible to predict the coronation of a runner who had never gone under 10 seconds before this season, who had no international final in his career, no renowned outdoor podium, even European, and who cut off 23 hundredths of a second at its best time in a few months.

Jacobs revealed himself in 2021 by becoming European indoor champion of the 60m this winter in Torun (Poland), before breaking everything this summer: 9 sec 95 in May then 9 sec 84 in the semi-final on Sunday, before the late night glory.

The straight line, privatized by Bolt in 2008, 2012 and 2016, has therefore crowned an almost unknown that it is difficult to designate as the Jamaican's successor.

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Italy had a magnificent evening with the title a few minutes earlier of the fantastic high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, shared with his Qatari friend Mutaz Essa Barshim.

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Cardio had only just gone up to speed with the dazzling triple jump world record for Yulimar Rojas at 15.67m, better than the 15.50m of Ukrainian Inessa Kravets in 1995.

As she also knows how to put on a show, she had reserved this little madness for her sixth and last attempt, already assured of the title, the first at the Olympics in all sports for a Venezuelan.This condensed raw emotions fostered a beautiful atmosphere, despite the absence of the public, thanks to a few dozen participants in the Games who came to support their teammates.rg / fbr / fbx

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