http://www.francefootball.fr/Athletisme/breves2010/20100709_174926_lemaitre-9-98.html
Lemaitre 20 y.o. won the 100 meters france championships, in 9.98 seconds making him the first white athlete to break 10 seconds
He is now france’s champ and french record holder
Congratulations
Finally, a fast whitey!
I wonder how fast he can go in a few years…he could be one of the youngest sprinters ever to run sub 10…can you think of any that were younger?
Well, technically Woronin was sub-10 back in the 1980’s. I believe it was 9.992. It only took 25 years for another to get below 10 flat.
The Euro Championships are going to be a great show with Lemaitre and Chambers on nearly equal footing, while being at opposite ends of the spectrum career-wise.
First movement at the start both hands are lifted straight up before the left hand moves forward. I also cannot at any stage see full extension. Covers the distance in 43 steps.
I suggest his coach is using the Pluto theory and not speed dynamics. Congratulations to them both.
Were Alan Wells, Valerie Borzov, Woronin, kenteris et all not fast aswell?
I understand you probably never meant anything offensive with your term ‘whitey’ but it is slightly racist. I mean, we don’t refer to Usain Bolt as ‘Darky’ do we?
Anyway, well done to Lemaitre. Running 9.98 at 20 years old places him in unique company - simply put, he is a prodigious talent regardless of his skin colour.
Congrats. Now once he cleans up that form and adds some muscle he may be a force. Havent seen a white man beat the brakes off some colored dudes since the 70’s.
hmmm judging by you bringing up race i can assume you are white…am i correct
I never brought the issue up and it certainly isn’t correlated to me being white as you have just implied with your words. Yes,I am white however.
I Just made reference to the careless way certain words are used to describe things.It’s not the ghetto so perhaps leave derogatory terms like ‘whitey’ there?
My friend thinks his tech is great.
He’s got freaky stride length, looks moderately smooth. What are the glaring flaws besides some start issues Chris?
lighten up white people its white boy day. The black dudes let us get one be happy about it.
Whitey Darky no one cares. It’s an unprecedented feat enjoy and ignore the humor if you don’t get it.
I do get it hence why I alluded to it.
I’m also acutely aware of the significance of the achievement. But the term ‘whitey’ is a little crass, even if just a joke IMO.
He just looks real wierd to me. He reminds me of Michael Cera, Nerdy white dude from ‘Youth in Revolt’ when he runs. its like he is really concentrating on having good form. His start sucks, no explosion. Maybe its cause he has long limbs that makes his style look off
Valence, France – Christophe Lemaitre broke the national 100m record today (9) with 9.98sec during the French Championships which are being held this week in Valence.
It was only a matter of time before the tall (1.89m, 80kg) sprinter broke the 10sec barrier, as he had lowered the European Junior record in 2009 to 10.04, and had run under 10.10 on no less than five occasions this season.
On a warm (32°) and windy afternoon in Valence, a feat was keenly anticipated on the occasion of the final. The previous day, the 20-year-old had been the fastest in heats (10.15, stopping his full effort with 10m to go) and in semi final (10.05 with a below-par start). But “my coach Pierre Carraz had told me to run all through and I’m disappointed about the time,” he said after the semi final.
Today, in final, he made another obvious bid to break the national record (9.99) held by Ronald Pognon since 2005.
Lemaitre, in lane 4, had a modest reaction time (0.181) but produced a irresistible acceleration from 30m to leave behind Pognon, in lane 6. Martial Mbandjock, the outsider, was one metre behind Lemaitre and maintained the gap without being able to catch him. Attention in the stadium naturally immediately switched to the clock, which indicated 9.99, corrected a few seconds later to 9.98. The anemometer showed 1.3m/s, which validated a new French record.
From among the crowd that was celebrating the feat coach Carraz was tried to describe the race of his pupil: “I didn’t see much of the race. What I can say is that I feel that he didn’t run with even rhythm. In Valence, he was not running as well as he was running earlier in the season. He is opening his stride too much in front and his hips are in a sitting position, which I don’t like to see. Maybe it is due to the fact that he missed the 10sec barrier at several occasions.”
Christophe Lemaitre looked more relieved than happy to break the mythical barrier. “This was my goal to break it of course. One has to run under 10sec in order to be part of the world’s best. I will be recognised as the first white man to run it, but today is mainly historical for myself!”
“It was a long term goal, but today the conditions were good and I had the best oponents possible to push me in Martial and Ronald. The only fear I had was about the wind.”
Indeed, the previous race, won by Véronique Mang in 11.16, had +3.2m/s.
Martial Mbandjock, second in 10.08, had his first words for the winner: “I have to congratulate Christophe. This day will long be remembered as the fastest French 100m ever. We all have a contribution in this record in pushing Christophe to do it.”
Ronald Pognon, third in 10.34, who lost his national mark, was also full of admiration, “records are made to be broken, I’m happy for him as he is a very talented athlete and has a lot more in him for the future.”
“Now, I have a three-numbers personal best, and I can have high ambitions for the European Championships in Barcelona,” said Lemaitre.
His 9.98 is the fastest time in Europe this year, 0.01 better than Dwain Chambers in his winning time during the European Team Championships in Bergen last month.
“But in Barcelona, the favourite will be Chambers, he has the experience as an advantage”, predicted Carraz. “However, Christophe puts no barrier in his head, he his fresh and young, and doesn’t think too much, so everything is always possible in his mind, that’s why he runs so fast.”
“Today, I have the title and the record, now I have to get qualify at 200m in order to target two medals in Barcelona, at 100m and 200m, and also the relay 4x100m,” explained Lemaitre, before joining the track again to run the first round of the 200m, where he won the first heat in very relaxed 20.96 (+3.1).
P-J Vazel for the IAAF
You see… this is what happens when you tell a skinny, white, dork there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out. He uses his “nerd-strength” to run a sub10.
just kidding… congrats to the kid and I hope he keeps on improving.
Well as a rule of thumb, if you’re tall and skinny and still run incredibly fast your technique can’t be that bad.
He’s making large strides but isn’t overstriding: The knee of his swing leg is already in front of his trunk at touchdown, which is one of the most important characteristics of proper sprinting.
Maybe hip height could be improved, but by far the most improvement will come from getting bigger and stronger.
He is doing what Asapha was last season, if he was riding a horse it would be called, falling out of the saddle.