TOKYO — Before he lined up among the fastest men in the world, in the final hours before he believed he could run faster than them for 100 meters, a broad-shouldered, baldheaded Italian man born in El Paso named Lamont Marcell Jacobs received a text message.

“I am junior,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs dreamed to make the final of the men’s 100 meters at the Tokyo Olympics.

Jacobs has not seen his father since.

Jacobs believes his father was watching Sunday night, when the globe fixed its gaze on a strip of brick-red vulcanized rubber inside National Stadium.

A 26-year-old who until this spring performed on the periphery of elite sprinting, Jacobs won the 100 meters in 9.80 seconds and earned the unofficial title of fastest man in the world.

The instant reaction within track and field was that nobody could have seen Jacobs coming.

American Fred Kerley, who won silver in a personal-best 9.84 seconds, said of the man who followed Bolt as the champion, “I really didn’t know nothing about him.”.

Late Sunday night in Tokyo, Jacobs started to introduce himself.

Last year, after a childhood, adolescence and young adulthood without a father, Jacobs reached out to his namesake.

They are not close — Jacobs said he does not know what his father does for a living.

Before 2021, Jacobs had never run the 100 in less than 10.03 seconds, a time that would not have qualified him for the final at June’s U.S.

By the end of Sunday night, only 10 men had run 100 meters faster than him.

On Saturday morning, Jacobs qualified for the semifinals by running 9.94 seconds, a personal best.

That night, in his room in the Olympic Village, he played PlayStation with Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi.

As Jacobs warmed up for the final, Tamberi approached the conclusion of a showdown with Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim.

Jacobs seized control after about 30 meters.

The only man who challenged Jacobs was Kerley, a muscular sprinter who was raised by his aunt.

In Italy, the image of Jacobs and Tamberi wrapped together in the Italian flag would live forever.

Late Sunday night, an Italian born in the United States stepped to a microphone before a gaggle of mostly American reporters

They will be held in Eugene, Ore., in the country where Jacobs was born

For one night, the greatest night he ever had, Jacobs believes the man with whom he shares a name was with him