Olympic champion Lamont Jacobs wins 60m in Lodz to start World Champs assault

Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs won his second 60m indoor race in a week on Friday as he builds towards an assault on the world title.

The Italian, who stunned sprinting with Olympic gold in the 100m and 4x100m relay in Tokyo last year, clocked 6.49 seconds to win in Lodz.

He edged out Michael Rodgers of the United States in a time that was just 0.02 off the Italian record he set in winning gold at the European Indoor Championships last March.

Jacobs, who won on his return to the track in Berlin last week, will also race in Lievin in France on Sunday as part of his preparations for the World Indoor Championships, which take place in Belgrade between March 18-20.

Before winning in Berlin with a time of 6.51 seconds, the 27-year-old addressed the suspicions over doping which lingered over his surprise Olympic triumphs.

"I would never do anything as an athlete competing for my country that would bring disrepute on me as a man or on my nation," Jacobs told the British newspaper Daily Telegraph last month when asked if he had ever taken banned performance-enhancing substances.

Also on Friday, Polish star Ewa Swoboda delighted the home crowd as she ran a world leading 60m time of 7.00 seconds

Racing for the first time in eight months due to injury, the 2019 European indoor champion's time put her equal third on the European all-time list alongside Dutch pair Nelli Cooman and Dafne Schippers.