Christophe Lemaitre "White Lightning" 9.92 and 19.80!

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elispeedster

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Sickening. I had to turn off the video before they even started the slow motion replay. Where was Christophe's vaunted top-end speed. He not only was blown away in the second half by Vicaut, but he did absolutely nothing to pull away from the dreadful non-elite runners who pretty much finished in a dead heat with him.

This is his third straight year of regressing. At this point, he either leaves Aix and gets into a serious program, or it's time he called it a career and went back to school. He's got absolutely nothing to show from three years of staying with Carraz.

I used to think he had Olympic gold medal potential in the 200. At this point, I don't even think he would make it out of the quarterfinals in 2016. He's too old to speak of his "potential" now anyway. We no longer know if he has potential anymore. He's already squandered his prime.

I'll say one good thing about the Vicaut. By running a 9.95, he completely stopped Christophe and Carraz from blaming the weather, like they have done in at least 49 out of his last 50 races. It's always too cold for Christophe. But whatever the weather was today, it was fine for a 9.95. Now we'll get to hear that Christophe felt a muscle pull or something. That's his second favorite excuse.

Exactly...up to 2011 when he ran multiple sub 10's, 19.80, it was all Christophe's natural talent...but his coaches think they did not need a change...wrong...when the body reaches a peak point, it needs a different approach to training. Common sense! Lemaitre never was a fully trained Athlete, he got by on natural ability... but alas, the wind and dewpoint temp were off by .0002 C, and his toenail was irritating, so it explains his woeful time. That video of being blown away by Vicaut and just getting 2nd was sick and disgusting. I am pissed.
 
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Exactly...up to 2011 when he ran multiple sub 10's, 19.80, it was all Christophe's natural talent...but his coaches think they did not need a change...wrong...when the body reaches a peak point, it needs a different approach to training. Common sense! Lemaitre never was a fully trained Athlete, he got by on natural ability... but alas, the wind and dewpoint temp were off by .0002 C, and his toenail was irritating, so it explains his woeful time. That video of being blown away by Vicaut and just getting 2nd was sick and disgusting. I am pissed.
I've always defended Lemaitre but at this point it is what it is and there isn't really much to say. The times he's running dont lie. He appears to be getting slower at a very gradual rate. Maybe he will get back to where he was and maybe he'll surpass it, who knows. He seems like a really odd guy so who knows whats going through his head.
 

jacknyc

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Well now it's obvious to everyone and not just me, that Lemaitre is regressing and is not the sprinter he used to be or could be.
No point in repeating all the things that were said above and have been evident for years now...... but I would like to point out (as I did in his previous race) how much more winded (tired) Lemaitre is after the race than anyone else. It's ridiculous! Does he have a breathing problem or is he just really unfit?
I find everything about this embarrassing.
 

RCSMAN

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there are a lot of comments here :angry:, you talk about pierre carraz, bad training, your affirmations based on WHAT ? NOTHING :tape2:

wait the end of this season and you will can talk about carraz, training etc, etc !!
 

jacknyc

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Lemaitre has gone from easily the fastest man in Europe to one who would not medal in a Europe 100m championships.
Based on yesterday's race, he might not even be able to make the finals.
At this rate Lemaitre looks like he might soon become a non-factor in the 100m.
His legacy will be:
1/ First white man to run under 10.00
2/ A sprinter of great, unfulfilled potential
 

RCSMAN

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Lemaitre has gone from easily the fastest man in Europe to one who would not medal in a Europe 100m championships.
Based on yesterday's race, he might not even be able to make the finals.
At this rate Lemaitre looks like he might soon become a non-factor in the 100m.
His legacy will be:
1/ First white man to run under 10.00
2/ A sprinter of great, unfulfilled potential

"Based on yesterday's race.." :faint2:
 

elispeedster

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there are a lot of comments here :angry:, you talk about pierre carraz, bad training, your affirmations based on WHAT ? NOTHING :tape2:

wait the end of this season and you will can talk about carraz, training etc, etc !!

You said the same thing the last 2 years...wait and see...wait and see...wait and see for what? He has regressed and it is all do to Amateur Training and Coaching.


Anyway, Now that Gay is out, and maybe some others, Lemaitre can Medal with a 10.30 100 and 20.5 200

Good Luck
 

trackster

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Well, Christophe may have had to make a lot of excuses for bad races the past few years, but at least he hasn't ever had to make up excuses for failing blood tests.

I'd rather hear Christophe blame the weather than hear Tyson Gay, Veronica Campbell Brown, and Five other Jamaicans blame their tests on a "tainted supplement."

Any athlete who even utters the phrase "tainted supplement" should be banned for life.
 

jacknyc

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"Based on yesterday's race.." :faint2:

If you saw something encouraging in his race yesterday, please tell me because I didn't see it.
Come on RCSMAN, Lemaitre has been running poorly for 2 full years now. His start is worse than ever. His times are slower now then when he was a junior. It's obvious that he is not the guy he was, or that you (or all of us) want him to be.
The facts, the times, the races speak for themselves.
Unless he changes something -- coaching, training, attitude (I don't know what...) this long running trend will just continue.
 

RCSMAN

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If you saw something encouraging in his race yesterday, please tell me because I didn't see it.
Come on RCSMAN, Lemaitre has been running poorly for 2 full years now. His start is worse than ever. His times are slower now then when he was a junior. It's obvious that he is not the guy he was, or that you (or all of us) want him to be.
The facts, the times, the races speak for themselves.
Unless he changes something -- coaching, training, attitude (I don't know what...) this long running trend will just continue.

his race yesterday was horrible but it wasn't the real lemaitre !
 

jacknyc

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Read the Tyson Gay test positive thread.
That's a better place for this story than the Christophe Lemaitre discussion.
 

elispeedster

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Well, Christophe may have had to make a lot of excuses for bad races the past few years, but at least he hasn't ever had to make up excuses for failing blood tests.

I'd rather hear Christophe blame the weather than hear Tyson Gay, Veronica Campbell Brown, and Five other Jamaicans blame their tests on a "tainted supplement."

Any athlete who even utters the phrase "tainted supplement" should be banned for life.

The point is why has he, in 2011, run multiple sub 10's and a 19.80 and 2 years in a row has completely regressed. I could care less about the doping allegations of other Athletes. Their doping has nothing to do with Lemaitre's regression. This is about Lemaitre making full use of his abilities and that his current system is not working and never will.
 

RCSMAN

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Christophe problems are technical, it's not physical !

in 2011, if Christophe had the same start than 2013, he would run 10,20, not 10,10 like this year !
Christophe is more strong, but he have to work his technical problem in first fifty metres !

it was the same problem with vicaut.

in the 3 last week vicaut had "lost" his technical like Christophe and run 10,10-10,15-10,20.

i'm not sure of my english :biggrin: !

sorry !
 

lactatking

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Christophe problems are technical, it's not physical !

in 2011, if Christophe had the same start than 2013, he would run 10,20, not 10,10 like this year !
Christophe is more strong, but he have to work his technical problem in first fifty metres !

it was the same problem with vicaut.

in the 3 last week vicaut had "lost" his technical like Christophe and run 10,10-10,15-10,20.
!
Vicaut has Developed
his Knee Lift the last 40m
 

jacknyc

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Christophe problems are technical, it's not physical !

in 2011, if Christophe had the same start than 2013, he would run 10,20, not 10,10 like this year !
Christophe is more strong, but he have to work his technical problem in first fifty metres !

it was the same problem with vicaut.

in the 3 last week vicaut had "lost" his technical like Christophe and run 10,10-10,15-10,20.

i'm not sure of my english :biggrin: !

sorry !

Vicaut beat Lemaitre over the last 50 meters, not the first 50 meters.
 

elispeedster

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Christophe problems are technical, it's not physical !

in 2011, if Christophe had the same start than 2013, he would run 10,20, not 10,10 like this year !
Christophe is more strong, but he have to work his technical problem in first fifty metres !

it was the same problem with vicaut.

in the 3 last week vicaut had "lost" his technical like Christophe and run 10,10-10,15-10,20.

i'm not sure of my english :biggrin: !

sorry !

Technical? After all these years they couldn't figure it out by now? Maybe the technical part is due to his amateur coaches...just a hunch
 

RCSMAN

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Vicaut beat Lemaitre over the last 50 meters, not the first 50 meters.

yesterday Christophe doesn't have the same finish than in the other race !

in rabat Christophe ran 4,28 in the last fifty meters, in gateshead 4,30 BUT YESTERDAY, Christophe ran 4,45 in last fifty meters, it's was just a very very bad race ! it's not his real level, BE SERIOUS !!!
 
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lactatking

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I think that Christophe ran more frequently and Not relaxed
than usually the First 50m, so that he didnt get
his Rhythy
m the Last 50m.
 
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RCSMAN

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TODAY Pierre Carraz said : ""Je pense qu'il va remonter la pente. Il a un mois. Ca va le faire. Je suis persuadé qu'il est aussi bon qu'à Daegu et même meilleur", a remarqué Carraz."

when you analyze christophe' s race, you can see that christophe is stronger, so i agree with Pierre Carraz!
 

white lightning

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Stronger doesn't always mean more explosive. I've seen guys in the gym bigger than me but I could push up alot more weight than they could from the bench press to the squats. I've also seen guys skinnier than myself that were stronger. Christophe needs to fix his start or his career is going to end up being average. You cannot continue to rely on your top end speed race after race at this level of competition.

If I were training him these are a few of the things I would work on with him to improve his explosiveness.

Box Jumps both up and down of different heights.

Running hills both up and down. It works different muscles.

Pulling weight sleds or parachute pulls.

Work on widening his stance as he first comes out of the blocks. I've always thought that his legs are two close together and that hinders him from geting the proper explosivness.

Have him wear the strength shoe and do assorted plyometric excercises.


I could add some more but I don't want to go on all day. He should have been a way better starter a couple of years ago. He has raced far too much to still struggle almost every race. He has to be more explosive out of the blocks. Then he needs to stay relaxed as he transitions from his drive phase into his upright running phase. It should come natural. If he has to think about it, then his rythym will be off tempo.

Please get at least an asst coach to fix his start. The rest of the race will take care of itself.
 
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