VICAUT 9.95 (+0.9) and 9.95 (+0.3) at French Nationals 2013

Lemaitre needs to train with Vicaut.

He would need a good year of base just to get to the point where he could begin to do the things that Vicaut does, he is THAT far behind IMO.

Look at the interview, the guy's upper arms are only as big as his forearms, and that's not big at all.

He will NEVER progress until he hits the weights. NEVER.

I see sprinters 150/160 lbs with bigger bi's than Lemaitre. Ridiculous. They cannot be underestimated when sprinting. He will never achieve turnover without bigger, stronger arms.

Look at how Vicaut's turnover crushes Lemaitre's midway through the race.

Fortunately, Lemaitre has time before Rio.

But, he needs to start THE DAY AFTER MOSCOW FINISHES. He is WAY behind, he has essentially wasted 2 years in which he could have been developing.

There is no good reason he isn't a 9.90 basic sprinter right now. None.

As for Vicaut, finally he is reaping the benefits of the hard work that he puts in. He is committed, dedicated, focused. He should achieve a Surin-esque level of performance.

Here's another thing: even though Lemaitre has him on the year in the 200, he will become a superior 200m runner to Lemaitre at 19.80

Vicaut is MJ, only now, more so! He is either better now in the 100 than MJ ever was, or if MJ had run 100's in his super year of 1996, then equal to MJ. Can you imagine if Vicaut had run the first 100 in his recent 200 like this? The first 100 of that 200 was conservative, which is probably why he was elated after the race, because he now knows what he is capable of.

I don't necessarily expect fireworks in the French Nationals 200m because these two 9.95's have to be pretty emotionally draining, but I would not be at all surprised if he were to emerge the next sub-20 guy, if only just. Yes, a .30-.35 improvement in the 200m over only a two-week period.

Lemaitre had better look out in the 200m, because Vicaut was pulling away from him at the end of the 100m.

I think that something's wrong with Lemaitre, he looks fatigued. Vicaut could easily win the 200, but only because I think that Lemaitre might put up a relatively crappy time.

I speak French, and in the interview Vicaut said he was not doing the 200m at French nationals.

Really? I'm bilingual, but I don't have sound on my machine right now.

I can see his point, but not really.

But this was spectacular, really spectacular. Maybe it's better that he leave the 200 alone right now, I mean what's to be gained?

He won't be up with the medal contenders this year, so why not conserve.

Oooohhh, I already can't wait for next year.

Vicaut and Dasaolu 2013, and Gatlin 2012, are why sprinters should do indoors.

There's just something about it, it keeps you in the game and gets you a head start. It should be though of as quick acceleration contests in the midst of real 100m training.

Powell should have run more indoors in 2013. Also, look at Patton, who blew the doors off a windy 9.75 early in the outdoor season before getting injured--he did that coming off running indoors.

You mentioned that Vicaut is one of the greatest clean sprinters of all time. What makes you so absolutely sure? I have no reason to be more suspicious of the guy than any other sprinter, but I have no reason to think he's more clean than any other sprinter. I hold every elite under suspicion, yet you seem so sure.

I'm not sure. At all.

But he has done absolutely nothing to raise any more than the baseline suspicion we wisely harbor for all these athletes.

He always shows up. He is from a civilized country. He never ducks. He gets injured--and when he does get injured, he doesn't go to some roid-prescribing doctor somewhere, he goes to...a dance coach.

He is absolutely open. He posts tons of stuff on the web. His training is visible for all to see. He was an excellent junior. He is well-balanced. His performances are not (yet) off the charts.

He's a big, strong guy, I mean really solid. You can tell just by looking at him, he is put together well, something like Surin was. He doesn't look inflated, like the Johnson series--his size looks absolutely natural, with the distribution you would expect from a sprinter who has a good weight program.

The only thing that would raise an eyebrow at this point would be his seemingly miraculous drop to sub-10, from something like 10.22 basic in his last 100m race.

But considering his indoor form and early outdoor form, this was only a matter of time, and I called it.

There is nothing fishy about him, at all. He is a hardworking, open, excellent young sprinter who is still figuring some things out. He shows actual joy when he does well, he always gives interviews, he is gracious in defeat, he doesn't like losing. He's not one of those guys who barely cracks a perfunctory smile after going 9.7x because they know where they got it from--in his case, these 9.9's were the product of dedication, commitment, and hard work, and he is right to be happy about them, as he apparently was about his 20.30

Let me ask you--is there anything in particular about him that would cause you to have more than the required normal degree of suspicion that he was doping? It doesn't sound like it, from your post.

All those things I mentioned are on the plus side for Vicaut, which is why I believe, much more than 50%, that he is clean.

Thanks for the response and explanation.

I always thought Surin looked bigger and more ripped, at least at his peak. He's listed as 5'11" at 190lbs, Vicaut 6'1" at 180. Even if those numbers are out of date, i'd say Surin had more mass/height ratio. I've seen video's of Vicaut squatting 315X3 but they were only quarter squats which is significantly easier than hitting parallel. I've also seen Harry Aikines *front* squatting 1X420 parallel and power cleaning 353, and of course we've all heard legend of Ben Johnson squatting 600 (I've only seen 10 plates=495). Anyways Vicaut is pretty strong for only 21 and will only get stronger.

But the main pt is, yes, Vicaut looked *very* solid. He will also get a huge boost in confidence which should help drive down times even more. Lemaitre looked like a raw schoolboy next to Vicaut, despite being 2 yrs older. He also seemed to be breathing much harder in the post race interview, and that's after being more than 0.3 secs off his pb, so somethings not right.

And yeah, Lemaitre needs more mass to help with his drive and give him more momentum near the finish. As an engineer he should understand these mechanical advantages. He looks like he could power clean maybe 100lbs on a good day. Then again, Percy Williams was only 5'7" 123 lbs!

Sprintgezzer where can we find his training. I am writing a book on sprint training and would love to see what he does. I have seen some video clips but something with more substance would be good.

It was heavy load after all... destroyed Lemeitre, nice piece of sprinting.

Btw Geezer the video I mentioned was somewhere on this chanel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/hangphou

... look around and you will find it.

I'm having trouble understanding what makes you so excited about this guy. Nesta Carter just ran 9.87. Many, many, have run faster than Vicaut this year or in past years. How do you know whether any of these guys are clean?

Carter is 27, Vicaut is 21. As for who's clean, who knows!

Carter's 9.87 in Madrid is highly suspect, consider the thread I started on it where I talk about RT's, etc.

Something was likely wrong with that timing, and the 9.87 shouldn't be taken as legit until there is some further confirmation, although considering the wind it is maybe believable...although the wind reading itself is suspect.

Vicaut is young, has developed well, and is intrinsically solid. Unlike bogus timing at many meets, this was accurate timing, 9.95 with very little wind.

LOOK at those sprints, forget about the times. Those were absolutely world-class, elite, strong, super-sprints. This guy is an absolute machine. With his equipment, if his form were fixed today, he would be one of the fastest guys ever, approaching that clean 9.80 barrier under excellent conditions.

The QUALITY of those sprints is absolutely astounding, among the absolute best I have ever seen. Like another poster commented, it looked like he was jogging the last 50m of the semi. It was easy, the power just flowed.

He has spent a ton of time doing the base work that is required to produce a sprint like that, and it shows. Some guys are just put together well, very strongly, guys like Surin, and now Vicaut. These are the types of guys who will be the best ever, clean. They don't come along too often--when you look at doped-up guys like MJ, Greene, Blake, Johnson, etc., you can tell they are using, because their muscles approximate guys like Surin and Vicaut, but their definition is a bit too crazy, their bones tend to be smaller in relation, and they just look "inflated" rather than natural. I hate to say it, but Chambers is another guy who is just naturally very solid.

VICAUT!!!!!

With Gay out, his chances of making the final have just improved tremendously. Hopefully some of the Jamaican trash will be booted, too.

VICAUT!!!!!

Yes, Surin was very solid.

Vicaut's 315x3 is nothing, I do more than that--but that's not the point. I do at least 315x6 or 8--but I'm sure he could do 315x20 if he wanted. At 315xa couple of reps, he is making sure to stay well within his envelope. The difference between those kinds of numbers, and Johnson's (I personally was doing max single reps at 405 while he was doing multiple reps at 495, seemingly easily) is the difference between that era and this--even if Vicaut is doped, there is probably little benefit to the type of sprinting he does from doing 5 plates and more, and 99% of the benefit, if not 100%, as it relates to sprinting these days, can be gained with more reps at 315.

He has all those ancillary, small muscles that act as stabilizers, which is why he is solid.

In contrast, Lemaitre is a joke. It's amazing that he sprints as fast as he does. He is wasted talent.