Christophe Lemaitre

Christophe Lemaitre (French pronunciation: [kʁistɔf ləmɛtʁ]; born 11 June 1990) is a French former sprinter who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a sub-10 second 100 m on seven occasions: three times in 2010 and four times in 2011. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2012 London Olympic Games and in the 200 metres at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

At the age of 20, Lemaitre won the 100 m, 200 m and the 4 × 100 m relay titles at the 2010 European Championships, the first French sprinter ever to achieve that triple. He was the fastest European 100 m and 200 m sprinter in 2010. He won a bronze medal in the 200 m at the 2011 World Championships. As of August 2013, Lemaitre was one of the three Frenchmen (the other two are Ronald Pognon and Jimmy Vicaut) to have broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 metres outdoor.

Due to injury and a negative reaction to his COVID-19 vaccination, Lemaitre did not compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Career

Growing up

Lemaitre grew up in the town of Annecy, where he took part in handball, rugby and football, before his sprinting prowess was discovered. In 2005 at the age of 15, during national sprinting events, Lemaitre ended up with the fastest 50 metres in the country. A month after his 16th birthday in 2006, and less than a year after joining an athletics club in Aix-les-Bains, Lemaitre ran 100 m in 10.96 seconds. His personal best improved to 10.53 seconds in 2007.