Jacobs Runs 9.67 in Eisenstadt — Only Bolt Has Gone Faster

Lamont Marcell Jacobs delivered the most eye-catching sprint performance of the 2026 season so far, clocking 9.67 seconds to win the men’s 100m at the Austrian Open in Eisenstadt on Wednesday — a time that, wind assistance aside, puts his name in extraordinarily rare company.

The +4.1 m/s tailwind rules the performance out of the official record books. But it does nothing to diminish what the Olympic champion produced. Cast across the entire history of the 100 metres — wind-legal or wind-assisted — only Usain Bolt’s 9.58 and 9.63 sit above it. Everyone else is further back. Jacobs now occupies the space between Bolt and the rest of the world.

How the Race Unfolded

It was not a flawless performance from the Italian. His start was sluggish, and through the opening 30 metres he had rivals alongside him — Romell Glave of Great Britain and Wayde van Niekerk, the South African who still holds the 400m world record, both pushed Jacobs through the early phase of the race.

But Jacobs is a closer. His ability to generate top-end speed and sustain it through the final third of a 100m race is what separates him from almost everyone on the planet, and it showed. He picked off both rivals, hit the line around a metre clear, and clocked a time that had the Eisenstadt crowd buzzing.

Glave crossed second in 9.76, van Niekerk third in 9.83. Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu ran 9.99 for fourth, Germany’s Owen Ansah 10.00 for fifth, and local athlete Markus Fuchs finished sixth in 10.09.

Jacobs had already looked sharp earlier in the evening, winning his heat in a wind-assisted 9.84. The final was not so much a surprise as a confirmation.

Race Results Table

The Bigger Picture

The wind-assisted caveat is worth noting but not worth dwelling on. At 4.1 m/s, the conditions were well beyond legal limits — which is why the time carries an asterisk. But sprinters at elite level don’t manufacture 9.67s from nowhere. The fitness, the mechanics, and the speed are real, regardless of what the wind was doing.

What this performance signals is that Jacobs is building towards something significant. A legally timed race at a major championship, if his form holds, could produce a performance that does enter the record books.

At the finish line, Jacobs was visibly elated — celebrating with the crowd before making his way down the line to embrace each of his competitors. The Olympic champion at his best is as generous in victory as he is devastating in the race itself.

The sprint world has been put on notice.