Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss the first of two scheduled races against world 100m champion Fred Kerley, after pulling out of Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, with what a light sciatica.
Jacobs says the mishap is as a result of a misstep and not a serious injury, however enough to stop him from competing in Morocco.
Jacobs and Kerley are still scheduled for another head-to-head at a Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy, next friday should he recover in time.
The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.
Kerley’s biggest competition on Sunday will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Oman-yala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds.
Yohan Blake is also listed for the event.
