The time is also the minimum he needs to have a chance of replicating his Tokyo glory in Paris this summer.

In Turku, Finland, at the Gold stage of the Continental Tour, the Italian ran in 9.99 in the heat, buoyed by a steady wind of +1.

After his double triumph at the European Championships in Rome in the 100 and with the 4x100, the Tokyo Olympian broke the wall again.

It was the performance he had been missing since the European final in Munich two years ago.

It is a sub-ten-second time that is also worth the entry standard for the Paris Olympics, in which he would in any case have participated through his own ranking.

Jacobs, 28, who was born in El Paso, Texas, is Italy’s first ever Olympic 100m champ.

ANSA