Olympic champion Jacobs pulls out of Rome, Oslo Diamond League meets

 March 19, 2022 Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs celebrates winning the men's 60m final REUTERS

Olympic sprint champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs has withdrawn from this month's Diamond League meetings in Rome and Oslo after failing to recover from a muscle injury, Italy's athletics federation said.

The 27-year-old, who became the first Italian to win Olympic 100 metres gold in Tokyo last year, picked up the injury during his victory in the 100m in Savona, Italy in May and also missed the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last weekend.

"Today's investigations have shown that Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs has not fully recovered from the muscle problem diagnosed last week," the federation said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Jacobs, who ended his 2021 season early citing exhaustion, said he was hoping to be fit in time for the world championships in July.

"I have to skip the next two races in Rome and Oslo ... I will continue with physiotherapy and low-regime training in order to better recover for the World Championships in Eugene in July," he wrote in a social media post.

Jacobs set a European record of 9.80 seconds to win the Tokyo 100m final before picking up a second gold medal in the 4x100m relay.