Injury-hit Jacobs vows to bounce back, takes aim at critics

FILE PHOTO: Lamont Marcell Jacobs is hoping to be in prime shape for the world championships in Budapest.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs vowed Wednesday to bounce back from his latest injury blow, taking aim at his detractors after a disappointing start to the season.

Jacobs on Tuesday withdrew from the European Athletics Team Championships in Poland later this month due to persistent sciatica.

The 28-year-old is hoping to be in prime shape for the August 19-27 world championships in Budapest after a difficult start to the season.

The Italian has twice pulled out of showdowns with world champion Fred Kerley due to a back problem.

He could only manage seventh in Friday’s Diamond League meeting in Paris, well off the pace in 10.21 seconds.

“I started my outdoor season and unfortunately it didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” Jacobs said on Instagram.

“And even though 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.”

Despite feeling “good at the starting blocks… my legs didn’t hold up to the end, the much needed training just wasn’t there and you all know the results”.

“And the critiques inevitably arrived, the attacks, the jokes coming from people who can’t even imagine how complicated the life of a professional athlete can be. In an instant it seemed like all the hard earned results were meaningless,” the Italian said.

“I’m a human being constantly pushing my body to give 110%, through the sweat and exhaustion its blood and tears every single day of my life to reach my challenges and goals.

“I’m facing my demons but I have faced down many and come through victorious. I’ll come back, I’ll get over the obstacles that life is yet again setting before me.

“I can do it. I won’t let anything, or anyone keep me from dreaming and fighting to get to where I need to be!”