Jacobs will move from his home country to Florida to link up with Rana Reider, whose access to his athletes was suspended last year pending an investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

Kerley meanwhile has posted on social media that he is now being coached by the 1992 Olympic 400m gold medallist Quincy Watts, an assistant at the University of California who also guides the career of world and Olympic silver medallist Rai Benjamin.

According to the Italian track and field federation Jacobs, 28, is to join Reider's athlete group in Jacksonville.

Reider guided Trayvon Bromell to a world 100m bronze medal in Eugene, Oregon, despite being warned off attending him at the track.

In May, an attorney wrote that Reider had agreed to serve one year of probation, while continuing to coach, in resolving his case with the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which deals with allegations of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in Olympic and Paralympic sports.

The Center has not published details of Reider's case, but the attorney wrote that Reider acknowledged a "consensual romantic relationship with an adult athlete."

The attorney added that "Reider was not found in violation of any other sexual misconduct claims" and that his case was closed, according to NBC Sports.

Jacobs, previously coached in Rome by Paolo Camossi, ran Italian records in all three of his Olympic 100m rounds in 2021, winning the final in 9.80sec.

Since then, Jacobs who was born in Texas and moved to his mother’s native Italy as a child, has struggled to maintain his success.

He withdrew before the 100m semi-finals at the 2022 World Championships due to leg injuries and had to settle for silver at this year’s European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul, where gold went to his young colleague Samuele Ceccarelli.

Like Jacobs, Kerley was eliminated in the 100m semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last month.

Kerley who won the world 100m title in Eugene last year failed to live up to his pre-championship hype as his compatriot Noah Lyles won both the 100 and 200m titles.

The 28-year-old Texan, previously a 400m specialist, announced:

"Choosing to make changes is always risky, even riskier during a year like the Olympics.

"I felt that I needed to bet on myself.

"I needed to prove to myself that I was all in and that meant seeking the guidance of COACH WATTS I’m entrusting him to bring out the best version of myself in the most important athletic year of my career.

"Ya’ll ready?"

Kerley has previously trained under Grenada’s Alleyne Francique since he sprinted for Texas A&M University.