Men’s sprints: Lemaitre’s year of reckoning | 15.12.2010
European Athlete of the Year Christophe Lemaitre of France truly
emerged as the flag bearer of European sprints in the years to come.
Christophe Lemaitre booked his place among the greatest European sprinters of all time during the 2010 season.The 20-year-old Frenchman from Aix-les-Bains had proven himself as a junior with the 200m world junior gold in 2008 and 100m European junior gold in 2009. But not many athletes have made this transition from junior to senior ranks as seamlessly as the shy Frenchman.
The lanky athlete won three gold medals at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona – the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.
It wasn’t as easy as it looked, though, as there were a number of top athletes reaching for the same titles. Lemaitre ran a time of 6.55 for a 60m personal best indoors, but decided to skip the World Indoor Championships in Doha.
This wasn’t the case for Briton Dwain Chambers, who came back extremely strong after setting a 6.42 European 60m record at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships semifinal in Torino.
In 2010, Chambers ran 6.50 to win the UK Indoor Championships before grabbing the world indoor 60m gold in Doha, clocking a 6.48 season’s best. Chambers started well outdoors with a time of 10.11 in Rio de Janeiro and went on to win the first big meet at the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen in a 9.99 season’s best.
Lemaitre was a close second in Bergen with a 10.02 personal best and then competed very little before Barcelona. The young Frenchman had a three-week break before the French Championships in Valence where he broke the 10-second barrier, winning his first French title in a 9.98 national record.
In Barcelona, Lemaitre was simply the best 100m runner although he still has work to do with his start. In the final his win was in no doubt as he clocked 10.11 against a strong headwind, while the next four runners timed 10.18 each. Briton Mark Lewis-Francis won his first individual European outdoor medal, a silver, and another French runner Martial Mbandjock was third. Former champion Francis Obikwelu, with a season’s best, was fourth and Dwain Chambers faded to fifth place. Later on, Lemaitre continued to impress, first equalling his national record 9.98 in the heats of the Rieti meet at the end of August and then setting a new 9.97 record in the final, finishing in fourth place. But this wasn’t enough for the young star as he later on won the first IAAF Continental Cup 100m in Split, clocking 10.06. Jaysuma Saidy Ndure lowered the Norwegian record to 10.00 in Rieti and also clocked a wind aided 9.98 in Doha in May.
200m
While Lemaitre’s success in 100m was not a surprise, his 200m results progressed better than many expected during the season. And this progress came in just four outdoor finals during the season. In 2009 Lemaitre set a personal best 20.68 as a junior and immediately wiped that result off the record books in his first race of the season in Marseille in June where he ran a 20.56 PB against a strong headwind. He then cut 0.4 seconds more in winning the French title in a fast 20.16, which equalled Gilles Quénéhervé’s result which brought him a silver medal at the World Championships in Rome 1987. The next final came in Barcelona where after the first 100m most pundits thought Lemaitre was out of the race, but he staged an unbelievable comeback in the final straight to grab the second gold of the championships. The 31-year-old Briton Christian Malcolm came close to improving his European silver from Munich 2002 in the best race of his season, missing the gold by only 0.01 seconds, 20.37-20.38.
In this event Jaysuma Saidy Ndure was fast with a 20.29 season’s best, but could only finish in fifth place in Barcelona where Martial Mbandjock notched his second European bronze.
A surprise winner of the men’s 400m race in
Barcelona - Kevin Borlée of Belgium.
400m
The European 400m season was eventful to say the least. The Belgian Borlée was the fastest European in 2010 and it was a Borlée who won the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, but it was not the same first name. Jonathan was the fastest European in 2010 clocking a 44.71 national record in the Barcelona semifinals, but surprisingly Kevin took the European title in the final. The 400m season was a very different one from the shorter sprints: there never really was a clear favourite to win in Barcelona.
The final behind the surprise winner Kevin Borlée was an extremely close one with the next six athletes just within 0.12 seconds. European leader Jonathan Borlée faded to seventh place after his NR in the semifinal and French record holder (44.46 in 2007) and 2006 European bronze medallist Leslie Djhone was only sixth this time. Britons Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney grabbed silver and bronze medals, respectively, both clocking 45.23, while 20-year-old Russian Vladimir Krasnov came very close to a medal in his first major championships. Two-time European indoor champion David Gillick of Ireland came within just 0.02 seconds of his 2009 NR 44.77 by clocking a 44.79 season’s best in the Barcelona semifinals, but he too could not repeat the performance in the final, finishing in fifth place in 45.28.
Notable stats:
100m
New entries on the European all time list:
Tied for 3rd place 9.97 Christophe Lemaitre FRA
Tied for 7th place 10.00 Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR
2010 head-to-head between best Europeans:
Dwain Chambers GBR – Christophe Lemaitre FRA 1-1
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 3-0
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Martial Mbandjock FRA 5-0
Dwain Chambers GBR – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 1-0
Career head-to-head between best Europeans:
Dwain Chambers GBR – Christophe Lemaitre FRA 2-1
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 3-0
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Martial Mbandjock FRA 6-1
Dwain Chambers GBR – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 2-0
200m
New entries on the European all time list:
Tied for 14th place 20.16 Christophe Lemaitre FRA
2010 head-to-head between best Europeans:
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 1-0
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Martial Mbandjock FRA 1-0
Christian Malcolm GBR – Marlon Devonish GBR 3-1
Career head-to-head between best Europeans:
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Jaysuma Saidy Ndure NOR 1-0
Christophe Lemaitre FRA – Martial Mbandjock FRA 1-0
Christian Malcolm GBR – Marlon Devonish GBR 26-16
400m
New entries on the European all time list:
19th place 44.71 Jonathan Borlée BEL
2010 head-to-head between best Europeans:
Jonathan Borlée BEL – Kevin Borlée BEL 1-1
Jonathan Borlée BEL – David Gillick IRL 2-1
Jonathan Borlée BEL – Michael Bingham GBR 2-2
Michael Bingham GBR – David Gillick IRL 3-0
Michael Bingham GBR – Martyn Rooney GBR 3-2
Kevin Borlée BEL– Martyn Rooney GBR 2-1
Career head-to-head between best Europeans:
Kevin Borlée BEL – Jonathan Borlée BEL 8-4
Jonathan Borlée BEL – David Gillick IRL 2-1
Jonathan Borlée BEL – Michael Bingham GBR 2-2
Jonathan Borlée BEL – Michael Bingham GBR 3-3
Michael Bingham GBR – David Gillick IRL 6-1
Michael Bingham GBR – Martyn Rooney GBR 6-5
Martyn Rooney GBR – Kevin Borlée BEL 3-2