Jacobs and Kerley face each other on the track after challenging each other on the networks

the italian athlete Marcell Jacobs, current Olympic champion in 100 meters, and American Fred Kerleythe last distance world champion, will meet on June 2 in Florence, as the Diamond League announced on Tuesday.

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A race that will allow the rivalry that has been going on for weeks between the two athletes through social networks through “tweets” and “posts” to be resolved on the track.

“Diamond League, make it happen. I want a one-on-one with only him, no one else”, claimed American Fred Kerley on April 17 via Twitter.

Quick response to the message that the Italian athlete published a few hours before on his Instagram account where he assured that he is ready to face the American “whenever and wherever he wants” Kerley.

“Whenever and wherever you want, but remember that when it matters most, it ends like this”, said Jacobs, illustrating his words with a picture of his victory in the final of the Tokyo Olympics against the American, who had to settle for silver.

A victory that still seems painful Fred Kerley, that he didn’t get a chance to get revenge last summer at the World Cups held in Eugene, after seeing how Marcel Jacobs he withdrew in the semifinals due to injury.

The circumstance that seems to have increased, even more if possible, the rivalry between the two athletes, as shown at the end of last March when Kerley indicated on the “Sprint Culture” podcast that he did not consider Jacobs a “real ” that rival.

After being asked about Jacobs’ performance at the European Indoors in Istanbul, where the Italian was overtaken in the final of the 60-meter dash by his compatriot Samuele Ceccarelli, the American athlete pointed out that the true rivals face fresh air.

“In the end, the indoor track is the indoor track and the real rival is competing outside”, Kerley hintedwho, when asked if he considered Marcell Jacobs a real rival, confidently assured: “I don’t think so. I’m just being honest.”

The words with which Marcell Jacobs, who after recovering from the injury he suffered at the Eugene World Cups was proclaimed a month later the European champion of 100 meters in Munich outdoors, responded with another strong message through the social networks.

“The lion does not turn around when a little dog barks”, Jacobs said she accompanied her words with a video of her working out at the gym.

A real “cocktail” lasted last week when Fred Kerley asked at the press conference before the dispute at the Doha meeting, the first test of the Diamond League, that Marcell Jacobs would appear in the case of a direct confrontation between the two.

“If it happens, I’ll be there and, without a doubt, I’ll win. I don’t know if he’ll show up,” said the American, who won the 200-meter final in the Qatari capital with a time of 19.92 seconds.

Duel that already has a day and time, on July 2 at the Luigi Ridolfi stadium in Florence (Italy), where the Golden Gala will be held, the third stage of the Diamond League, which will leave its usual venue, the Olympic stadium in Rome, due to work underway on the Roman enclosure to host the European athletics tournaments to be held in 2024 in the Italian capital.

A hundred meter race in which Jacobs and Kerley will not only be present, who will meet for the first time since the Olympic final, but will also include the presence, among others, of the American Trayvon Bromell, bronze in the previous World Cups. from Eugene.