Olympic 100m Champion, Marcell Jacobs will make his return of defending his 60m title at the Orlen Cup Lodz which is a World Athletics indoor tour silver level, that will be held on February 4,2023 in Lodz, Poland.

The reigning European 100m champion will open his Indoor season against a tough line up that includes the 2019 100m relay champion, Mike Rodgers – who beat Jacobs in this meeting two years ago before finishing second last year – and the 2019 European Indoor Championships Bronze medallist, Joris Van Gool from the Netherlands.

Rodgers holds a personal best of 6.48 seconds that he got at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2011 while Van Gool has a life time best of 6.61 seconds that he got last year in his home town.

The 27 year-old last year won this race with a time of 6.49 as he went on to win the gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade where he set a European record of 6.41 to win the 60m title.

This year’s edition of the Orlen Cup will be particularly special for the organisers after the last two events were staged behind closed doors due to coronavirus pandemic.

“This year we are opening up to the fans, we can sell tickets again and invite them to the stands of the Atlas Arena. I hope that, as before the pandemic, they will support athletes in large numbers,” said Lech Leszczyński, president of the Lodz Athletics Association and vice-president of Polish Athletics Federation.