The fastest man in the world for the past two years is the Italian, American-born, Marcell Jacobs. The lightning bolt born in El Paso, Texas, to an American father and an Italian mother, has won everything in recent years except the world outdoor title. Olympic champion in Tokyo in the 100 meters and in the 4x100 relay, world indoor champion, Europ...

When Samuele Ceccarelli upset Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs to win the Italian 60m title a fortnight ago, most observers wrote it off as an anomaly, if not an outright fluke. But in the space of 6.48 seconds at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Saturday night, the 23-year-old didn’t just back up that result. He ascended t...