French sprinting superstar and 2010 European Athlete of the Year Christophe Lemaitre has revealed his some of his plans for 2012 to the French athletics magazine VO2, and the European Athletics Championships are a focal point in his diary.
The triple European champion will race at just three indoor meetings during a two week period next February with all his winter competitions being in on home territory in France.
He will compete at the invitation meeting in Lievin on 14 February and at Val-de-Reuil four days later, followed by the French national championships in Aubière over the weekend of 25-26 February.
In the summer, Lemaitre has confirmed that he will defend his European Athletics Championships 100m crown, which he won last year in Barcelona, at the 2012 event in Helsinki.
He also plans to be part of the French 4x100m relay team which also won in the Catalan city and he will practise with his compatriots for five days starting on Saturday and also in January.
France, who should also have the prodigious 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships 100m and 200m gold medallist Jimmy Vicaut in their main quartet will be bidding next year to improve on Great Britain’s 12-year-old European record of 37.73.
However, Lemaitre commented that he is unlikely to defend his European 200m title in the Finnish capital despite the fact that he is now the second fastest European ever over the distance after he clocked 19.80 to get the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships this summer
“Technical reasons, the curve (in Helsinki’s Olympic stadium) too tight for someone with my long legs,” Lemaitre told VO2.
He did not reveal whether he plans to also run the 200m at the Olympic Games in London later next summer as well as the two events which he has committed to in Helsinki.