Lausanne offers France's Lemaitre the chance to shine By Phil Minshull, Special to Universal Sports
MADRID, Spain -- Walter Dix and Asafa Powell obviously had other things on their minds than the potential World Championships 100m threat posed by Christophe Lemaitre during the last few days, while they were en route to winning at the U.S. and Jamaican Championships.
Nevertheless, the young Frenchman was probably paying close attention to proceedings in Eugene and Kingston.
He's so far kept his cards close to his chest about his thoughts of what went down but Lemaitre has probably mentioned to his confidantes that he's not seen anything to feel unduly scared about.
In the absence of Usain Bolt, he certainly should also fancy his chances at inflicting a morale-boosting defeat upon his rivals from across the Atlantic when he meets some of them at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Thursday.
Dix's season's best of 9.94, with a following breeze of 1.3 metres per second in Eugene, is now well within the capabilities of Lemaitre, who is getting better with every race.
He has notched up two successive French 100m records in his last two outings, the latter being his 9.95 in Stockholm just over a week ago with slightly less wind on his back than Dix benefitted from.
The only confirmed opponents for Lemaitre in Lausanne at the time of writing are Powell and his compatriot Nesta Carter, who didn't earn one of the individual 100m spots on the Jamaican team going to Daegu, but it's almost certain that several top Americans will be on the start line as well.
However, Tyson Gay is now out of the Lausanne meeting owing to his hip problem and Bolt was never in, owing to what the meeting promoter Jacky Delapierre ambiguously referred to as ‘sports politics' last Friday.
What should also add to Lemaitre's optimism that the time might be right for him to get his first Diamond League win is that running in Lausanne will almost be like running on his home track in Aix-Les-Bains, which is just over the border and barely 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Swiss city.
Family and friends are sure to be in abundance in the audience; a quick glance at the websites of Swiss newspapers shows that he is almost as big a hero in the French-speaking part of Switzerland as he is in his native France.
"Nobody knows whether I can keep progressing at the same pace but I think the European record will soon be mine," said Lemaitre recently.
The mark he is aiming at currently belongs to Portugal's Francis Obikwelu, who clocked 9.84 when he finished second behind a certain Justin Gatlin -- who was making more headlines in Eugene at the weekend -- in the 2004 Olympic Games 100m final.
Even if that time might just be a leap too far for Lemaitre at the moment, the Lausanne track is notoriously fast.
Leroy Burrell set a world record of 9.85 there in 1984 and the current meet record stands to Powell with 9.72, set in 2008, the equal fifth fastest time ever. In less-than-ideal conditions, Bolt sped to a time of 9.82 there last year.
If ever there was good opportunity for Lemaitre to dent the dominance of U.S. and Jamaican sprinting, this is it.
MADRID, Spain -- Walter Dix and Asafa Powell obviously had other things on their minds than the potential World Championships 100m threat posed by Christophe Lemaitre during the last few days, while they were en route to winning at the U.S. and Jamaican Championships.
Nevertheless, the young Frenchman was probably paying close attention to proceedings in Eugene and Kingston.
He's so far kept his cards close to his chest about his thoughts of what went down but Lemaitre has probably mentioned to his confidantes that he's not seen anything to feel unduly scared about.
In the absence of Usain Bolt, he certainly should also fancy his chances at inflicting a morale-boosting defeat upon his rivals from across the Atlantic when he meets some of them at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Thursday.
Dix's season's best of 9.94, with a following breeze of 1.3 metres per second in Eugene, is now well within the capabilities of Lemaitre, who is getting better with every race.
He has notched up two successive French 100m records in his last two outings, the latter being his 9.95 in Stockholm just over a week ago with slightly less wind on his back than Dix benefitted from.
The only confirmed opponents for Lemaitre in Lausanne at the time of writing are Powell and his compatriot Nesta Carter, who didn't earn one of the individual 100m spots on the Jamaican team going to Daegu, but it's almost certain that several top Americans will be on the start line as well.
However, Tyson Gay is now out of the Lausanne meeting owing to his hip problem and Bolt was never in, owing to what the meeting promoter Jacky Delapierre ambiguously referred to as ‘sports politics' last Friday.
What should also add to Lemaitre's optimism that the time might be right for him to get his first Diamond League win is that running in Lausanne will almost be like running on his home track in Aix-Les-Bains, which is just over the border and barely 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Swiss city.
Family and friends are sure to be in abundance in the audience; a quick glance at the websites of Swiss newspapers shows that he is almost as big a hero in the French-speaking part of Switzerland as he is in his native France.
"Nobody knows whether I can keep progressing at the same pace but I think the European record will soon be mine," said Lemaitre recently.
The mark he is aiming at currently belongs to Portugal's Francis Obikwelu, who clocked 9.84 when he finished second behind a certain Justin Gatlin -- who was making more headlines in Eugene at the weekend -- in the 2004 Olympic Games 100m final.
Even if that time might just be a leap too far for Lemaitre at the moment, the Lausanne track is notoriously fast.
Leroy Burrell set a world record of 9.85 there in 1984 and the current meet record stands to Powell with 9.72, set in 2008, the equal fifth fastest time ever. In less-than-ideal conditions, Bolt sped to a time of 9.82 there last year.
If ever there was good opportunity for Lemaitre to dent the dominance of U.S. and Jamaican sprinting, this is it.
