Christophe Lemaitre "White Lightning" 9.92 and 19.80!

[Strad]

Lemaitre hasn't been superb yet this year, but for a sprinter that could as simple as having a cold or a mild muscle pull. It's still early enough in the season for him to easily round into form.

Even if he doesn't beat the world this year, he can still have a great career. I just try to enjoy the show.:couch2:

 

[foobar75]

yes ofcourse
his max feats in weigh lifting:

100kg for squats (220 lbs)
45 kg for snatch (99 lbs)

he says that he sucks at weight lifting, and also at aerobic training

Frederic38, if these numbers are true, this is beyond pathetic. These are not the feats of a world class sprinter by any measure. Most of us on his board, and most anyone who exercises a few times a week can do that in our sleep.

Christophe is a world-class athlete and sprinter who has come this far due to pure natural ability, in my opinion. In order for him to compete with the big boys (Bolt, Gay, Powell, Blake, etc), it's a no-brainer that he must get serious about weightlifting and take his training to the next level.

I'm just coming around to this thread and starting to follow track again, so not sure if you guys have already discussed this. Christophe's biggest weakness appears to be his lack of explosive power coming out of the blocks in the first 30-40 meters. His natural closing speed, which is simply unbelievable, allows up to make up a lot of ground in the final 40-50 meters. But to get that explosion, he needs to perform Olympic and plyometric lifts, it's that simple. I'm not the biggest expert, but this is common knowledge to anyone who knows about fitness and sports in general.

I hate to see such a talent be wasted and not reach his true potential because his trainer for some reason does not believe in weight lifting. I guess we can wait for the next few events before panicking, but I'm feeling a little nervous.

 

[ZELLGADISS]

Strad in the world of track and field, is totally accepted 2.0 wind is around 0.10 advantage compared with 0.0 wind.
By experts,coaches and runners.

If you want to think the opposite ok, but those numbers were made by experts in biomechanics.
Of course is not perfect the convertion but is very near to reality.

Regards

 

[Coach]

Adam Gemili

guy's adam gemili ran 3 day's ago in usa at tom jones memorial invitational a amazing pb of 10.23 on a 1.1 wind,and at 200m a 20.70 on -0,2 wind,this guy have a lot of potential,i hope to not happend with him what happend with pickering. 10.23 at 18 years is really impressive and is just first race of season.sure he can go under 10.2, this guy will be next sub 10 white sprinter.

I've been following Adam Gemili and I'm telling you that boy is going to achieve something great. Just proves my point about soccer taking European kids away from Athletics. Imagine how many more kids are persuaded by the promise of fame and fortune into soccer when in reality they could be achieving a great Athletics career.

Does anyone know when Adam Gemili's next event is?

 

[elispeedster]

Frederic38, if these numbers are true, this is beyond pathetic. These are not the feats of a world class sprinter by any measure. Most of us on his board, and most anyone who exercises a few times a week can do that in our sleep.

Christophe is a world-class athlete and sprinter who has come this far due to pure natural ability, in my opinion. In order for him to compete with the big boys (Bolt, Gay, Powell, Blake, etc), it's a no-brainer that he must get serious about weightlifting and take his training to the next level.

I'm just coming around to this thread and starting to follow track again, so not sure if you guys have already discussed this. Christophe's biggest weakness appears to be his lack of explosive power coming out of the blocks in the first 30-40 meters. His natural closing speed, which is simply unbelievable, allows up to make up a lot of ground in the final 40-50 meters. But to get that explosion, he needs to perform Olympic and plyometric lifts, it's that simple. I'm not the biggest expert, but this is common knowledge to anyone who knows about fitness and sports in general.

I hate to see such a talent be wasted and not reach his true potential because his trainer for some reason does not believe in weight lifting. I guess we can wait for the next few events before panicking, but I'm feeling a little nervous.

Thats what I been trying to explain to this RCSMAN. Lemaitre is the most natural gifted, but he lacks basic strength. He does not need to squat 500 pounds, but if he could manage double his own bodyweight in the squat, no question in my mind he would be a consistent sub 9.9 and 19.8 runner. No question about it. I can see him legitmaly running close to 9.80 and 19.5

Diet and performance enhancers is what makes guys into bodybuilders, not just weights. Lemaitre gaining 5-10 pounds of pure muscle with increased strength will only be beneficial.

Hicahem El HGaroouj, the great Moroccan distance runner, at a soaking 150 pounds used to do full squats with close to 385 pounds on his back, ass to ground and up. This, as he stated, is what gave him that final burst of speed to finish the race. This coming from a distance runner. I Read it in Sports Illustrated, years back. WEIGHTS ARE IMPORTANT IF NOT THE MOST!

 

[white lightning]

I've said it before and I will say it againg. Christophe needs to get serious about weight training. Less school and social time, more time doing plyos, hill running and especially in the weight room. If he wants to have a chance at the gold, he must take it to the next level. I do expect him to run a descent time this weekend but not a sub 10. The weather is going to be horrible and he is just not even close to being fit at the moment. He lacks tempo, rythym and strength!

 

[frederic38]

I've said it before and I will say it againg. Christophe needs to get serious about weight training.

yes, bolt has the same problem as lemaitre (being very tall and not very muscular naturally) and he worked a lot to improve the first 30 meters

Athletics: Usain Bolt bulks up for take-off in the first 30-metres

link

 

[RAUL]

2 days

in 20 may he will run 100 and 200m at aix les bains,i want from christophe to run good and give a slap to all people who dont trust him.

 

[Soccer&track]

I have to say that everyone here is pulling for him to run fast. No one here is saying they don't want him to run fast, they are only stating the obvious. It's very simple, to get faster you have to get stronger. He has excellent form, but he clearly lacks strength needed for a world class start. The question in my mind though is why are his times way slower than last year? He isn't any weaker, in fact he's probably very slightly stronger than last year. At the very least he should be running similar to last years times. And as indicated with his indoor times (6.55 best last year, 6.56 this year) he should be in the same ball park. I tend to be an optimist, so I'm gonna say that he is aiming to peak in a couple months for London. Being natural means you can't peak for 3 months out of the year, just another indicator that the Jamaicans aren't natural. I'm also excited for Guliyev, a sub 10 for him at the Olympics would be awesome!

 

[RCSMAN]

in 20 may he will run 100 and 200m at aix les bains,i want from christophe to run good and give a slap to all people who dont trust him.

in 20 may he will run ONLY 100M

 

[Izwal]

I try to understand Carraz logic. This article states that 100m speed performance is correlated with high step frequency, but is NOT correlated with high step length. So CL has to increase his step frequency to get better. The step length is less important. I suppose that it's the reason why Carraz asks CL to decrease his step length. But why not trying to increase step frequency without changing step length? Intuitively, I think that step length is a consequence of other parameters. Trying to act on step length is like confusing causes and consequences, IMHO.

(...)

Recently, Morin and colleagues decided to analyze LeMaitre and other sprinters in an attempt to figure out what makes LeMaitre faster than his competitors. Here’s a LINK to the abstract. This study is one of the coolest studies I’ve ever read and I commend the researchers for putting together such a comprehensive study in order to advance our understanding of sprint biomechanics.

(...)

Results:

This particular paper has contributed very heavily to the body of knowledge. In fact, it took me a few reads to adequately understand all of the findings due to the physics and mathematics involved in the paper. Since there were so many findings, I’ll just list them in bullet-point fashion:

• Mean and peak propulsive power in the horizontal direction, as measured on the instrumented torque treadmill, were significantly correlated with maximum speed, 100m sprint time, and the distance covered over a 4-second interval. The latter were the most relevant and simple to understand acceleration and sprint performance variables considered by the group of scientists.
  
• The researchers were able to create a force-velocity line by plotting the dots created by the horizontal force and corresponding velocity values averaged for each running contact phase, from the step at which max horizontal force during the sprint was produced (typically one of the first three steps), to that when maximum velocity was reached. By doing so, they were able to draw and study subjects’ “force-velocity†profile (i.e. the overall incline of their individual force-velocity linear relationship), i.e. on what balance between these capabilities (force or velocity) does subjects’ power output depend.
  
  By extending the line to the vertical and horizontal axes, they were able to obtain theoretical maximums of horizontal force production (the hypothetical maximum amount of force production possible absent of time requirements) and velocity production (the hypothetical maximum velocity possible absent of external forces). These maxima are important as they characterize the mechanical limits of neuromuscular output in sprint running, and can not be reached in experimental conditions.
  
  The theoretical maximum horizontal force that sprinters could produce was not correlated with any of the performance variables, whereas the theoretical maximum horizontal velocity that sprinters could achieve was significantly correlated with all performance variables. In other words, a velocity-oriented power profile seems critical to speed and 100m sprint performance, not a force-oriented power profile.
  
• The researchers calculated what they call an “index of force application/orientation technique†by plotting the dividend of the horizontal force and total force (they call this RF which stands for “ratio of forceâ€) from the second step of the sprint until maximum speed was reached and then creating a line-of-best fit, allowing them to calculate the slope. This gives an indication of the sprinter’s ability to continue to create a forward-oriented total ground reaction force (GRF) at increasing speeds. This index is highly correlated with all measures of sprint performance; maximal speed, 100m sprint time, and 4-s distance. In fact, Christophe Lemaitre (the fastest runner in the group) had the highest index whereas the slowest runner had the lowest index.
  
• Low contact times, high step frequencies, and low swing times were significantly correlated with 100m sprint performance, which surprisingly was not the case with high step lengths and aerial times.
  
• Body mass index (BMI) and leg length ratio (leg length divided by total height) were not correlated with 100m sprint performance.
  
• Here are the correlations between the index of force application technique, horizontal GRF, vertical GRF, resultant GRF, maximum horizontal power output, average horizontal power output, theoretical maximal horizontal force, and theoretical maximal horizontal velocity with maximum speed, average 100m speed, and 4-second distance (significant correlations are shown in red):
  

  	Maximal Speed	Mean 100m Speed	4s Distance
  Index of force application technique	.875	.729	.683
  Horizontal GRF	.773	.834	.773
  Vertical GRF	.593	.385	.404
  Resultant GRF	.611	.402	.408
  Maximum horizontal power output	.863	.850	.892
  Average horizontal power output	.810	.839	.903
  Theoretical maximum horizontal force	.560	.447	.432
  Theoretical maximum velocity	.819	.735	.841

• As you can see, the index of force application technique is the highest correlate of maximal speed, followed by maximum horizontal power output. Average 100m speed is most related to measures of horizontal power and force. Distance covered over a 4s interval is most related to horizontal power output as well.
  
• Horizontal GRFs are much more related to sprint performance than vertical or resultant GRFs.
  
• Theoretical maximum horizontal velocity is more related to sprint performance than theoretical maximum horizontal force. In fact, when comparing these two extremes between Lemaitre (fastest sprinter in the group) and the slowest sprinter in the group (he recorded a 15.03s 100m sprint), Lemaitre possessed a theoretical max horizontal velocity and theoretical max horizontal force of 14.0 m/s and 8.47 N/kg, respectively, whereas the slowest sprinter possessed a theoretical max horizontal velocity and theoretical max horizontal force of 8.28 m/s and 6.82 N/kg, respectively. So Lemaitre’s theoretical max horizontal velocity is far superior (69% higher) to the slowest sprinter, whereas his theoretical horizontal force is only 24% higher than the slowest sprinter.

 

[RCSMAN]

I try to understand Carraz logic. This article states that 100m speed performance is correlated with high step frequency, but is NOT correlated with high step length. So CL has to increase his step frequency to get better. The step length is less important. I suppose that it's the reason why Carraz asks CL to decrease his step length. But why not trying to increase step frequency without changing step length? Intuitively, I think that step length is a consequence of other parameters. Trying to act on step length is like confusing causes and consequences, IMHO.

you said : "This article states that 100m speed performance is correlated with high step frequency, but is NOT correlated with high step length. So CL has to increase his step frequency to get better. The step length is less important. I suppose that it's the reason why Carraz asks CL to decrease his step length !

CONGRATULATION !!!!!!!!!!

I tried several times to explain it on this forum!
It is impossible to increase its frequency of step by keeping the same pace length, christophe has to reduce the length of these steps!
Pierre Carraz said that the length of the steps of christophe was of 2,70M exactly as bolt!
For Pierre carraz it is not normal because christophe is smaller than Bolt, thus his pace length is too long, christophe thus has to reduce his pace length around 2,60M to give more rhythm and accelerate more !


People should stop of thought that more the pace length is long more we are fast, it is stupid !
The rhythm of steps is very important !

 

[freddie]

I really wouldn't get too excited about this research paper. It is based upon "correlations"; and as science has repeatedly found a correlation may have nothing to do with cause and effect. And if Lemaitre was one of the subjects in the study then it tells us even less about his unique abilities.

 

[RAUL]

both of them are very important.look at sprinters like maurice greene or tyson gay,they are very fast but dont have huge strides,greene was faster than donovan bailey but bailey has longer stride.frequency are at least important like leght of strides.of course we have sprinters like bolt with huge strides,but bolt have a good frequnecy of step to,not at the same level of tyson gay but a good frequnecy too.

 

[elispeedster]

you said : "This article states that 100m speed performance is correlated with high step frequency, but is NOT correlated with high step length. So CL has to increase his step frequency to get better. The step length is less important. I suppose that it's the reason why Carraz asks CL to decrease his step length !

CONGRATULATION !!!!!!!!!!

I tried several times to explain it on this forum!
It is impossible to increase its frequency of step by keeping the same pace length, christophe has to reduce the length of these steps!
Pierre Carraz said that the length of the steps of christophe was of 2,70M exactly as bolt!
For Pierre carraz it is not normal because christophe is smaller than Bolt, thus his pace length is too long, christophe thus has to reduce his pace length around 2,60M to give more rhythm and accelerate more !


People should stop of thought that more the pace length is long more we are fast, it is stupid !
The rhythm of steps is very important !

Yes, we all agree, rhythm, frequency, stride length is all important..but that is not Christophe's core problem You dont run 9.92 and 19.80 with average rhythm. He has a problem of power and strength out of the blocks (not reaction time) but the ability to blast off and hit and maintain his top speed in the early part of a race. Bolt can have a terrible start (and he has) but he has the power to accelerate at a top speed at around 40 meters and maintain it throughout - that comes with strength and power, something Christophe seriously lacks. The 1st 40 meters of a race is more power than absolute speed.

Christopehe can do all the cone and rhythm training he wants (and play around with weights women sprinters use), but if he truly wants to be a 'legend', he needs that power.

 

[Izwal]

Today Christophe will run on 100m at Aix-les-Bains.
The race is scheduled at 3:40 pm CEST.

http://www.athle.fr/asp.net/main.html/html.aspx?htmlid=4061

The weather is rainy.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/fr/aix-les-bains/136559/hourly-weather-forecast/136559

According to these conditions, I hope he will be able to do around 10.1x.

 

[Keyser Soze]

10.05 (wind : +2,2m/s)

http://bases.athle.com/asp.net/list...&frmcompetition=090012&frmepreuvem=100m+/+SEM

 

[planb47]

10"05 ( +2.2 m/s) today​

 

[elispeedster]

10"05 ( +2.2 m/s) today​

A decent time, but the wind being + 2.2 I figured he should of gone under 10. He is not in shape as he was last year at this time. Only positive is, he did beat the 2nd place guy by .5 a second, so there was no competition to push him faster. I would think without wind, that is about a 10.15 - 10.18? He should be running 10.05 without wind. Hate to sound negative, but it amazes me he hasn't really shown any improvement from last year at all.

 

[RCSMAN]

Christophe's reaction after his race :


"It is not thus approved it's a pity, reacted the sprinter from Aix. Over the moment, I was very satisfied but to see that the wind was too strong, that a little calmed me. It is still far from what I am still worth really. I am satisfied all the same by me and reassured, I feel more in confidence with this stopwatch but there is still some work. About sensation, of the body movements, it is better but I still have concerns for the start. Anyway, it is always necessary to work everything. For Rome, that will get better, it is sure"

 

[RCSMAN]

Christophe 20,48 NICE VIDEO !!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90TJW2fWR28

 

[RCSMAN]

today : Lemaitre 10,05 (2,2m/s)
last year (22/05/2011) : Lemaitre 10,08 (0,6m/s)

 

[ZELLGADISS]

Is not bad time.
In Rome he probably can to run around 9.98-10.02 +1.0
He will win easily 100 in european championship.
It is probably that he try to get medal in 200 OG, and not run in 100 there, so for me he is in good progression.

 

[RAUL]

not bad

homies is not a bad time.he dont need to be in his best shape now,he must to be in the best shape of his life at london,he will be in 9.9 form in a month.

 

[Izwal]

[video=dailymotion;xqybtd]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqybtd_interclub-2012-finale-100m-lemaitre-10-05-et-4x100m_sport?start=3[/video]