Lemaitre's start STILL sucks, even though he won French indoors

Lemaitre only won with his lean.

Vid is up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWM5J-08vs

Why hasn't he and his coaches figured it out yet? This is a 200/400 guy. He is never going to have the power it takes to compete with the elite in a 100m. No a 9.92-9.88 wouldn't do it. A skinny white guy in a 100m.....nope!!!

He appears to be one of those that can down pancakes by the tons, never gain a pound.

I'm noticing that we never seen a big powerful looking French sprinter. None of those off that WR 4x1, not Roger Bambuck.???

CL def needs every type of "strengh" training, more MaxS and modified Oly Lifts can make him a lot faster on his first 20m, he just doesnt have the power and strenght to execute a proper "explosive" start. I believe the technical problems on his "start" are mostly due to a lacking of certain trainable physical attributes and once he's more powerfull he will technically execute the start (and accl. btw) a lot better.

He could also put a lot more "meat" on the bones and still have great power/maxS to ratio, dude's too skinny to even be a 400m guy.

Been a lot of thin world class 400 guys...The Harrisons, Danny Everett, Steve Lewis...etc. Jeremy Wariner is no powerhouse.

I agree with Obi.

Here's another question: Is CL actually getting worse, because they're working on changing his weaknesses rather than on increasing his strengths?

6.57 this year is not much worse than 6.53 last year, but it IS slightly worse.

Maybe they should have recognized that he won't go anywhere this year in the 100, and tailored his training exclusively for the 200, with maybe a bunch of 400 overdistance stuff, forgetting about starts completely.

Or maybe he is now one of those guys who is unbelievable in practice, but who hasn't been able to put it together in a race just yet.

I would have focused on the 200--solid chance at a medal, don't have to train a new start, his thinness is actually an advantage, his huge stride at speed is his best asset, and the 200 seems more suited to his temperament--there is a longer period of opportunity in the 200m for you to control your race, to have conscious control...in the 100, it's a lot quicker. Mechanical, thinking-type guys are much better at the 200 than at the 100...perfect for a skinny Frenchman like CL.

At first we didn't know where he was heading (obviously) his...first palefsce to run a sub10.00!!!..had everything thinking he wasa 100m guy. When in reality a sub 10.00 isn't all that ..anymore. If he'd been from Jamaica/Trinidad he'd been just another Caribbean sprinter.

This is a 200m and yes he needs to understand that and add some 400m work in there. As we know paleface sprinters have been far more successful in the 200m than the 100m.

In Jamaica he would be Nickel Ashmeade, were it not for his 200m breakthrough last year. Nickel who?

19.80 will get you respect no matter where you are--unless you're 7-8m ahead, running with Bolt and Blake.

He's a solid third-tier in the 200m. Tier 1: Bolt, Blake.

Tier 2: Dix, Gay (maybe). Tier 3: Lemaitre, Ashmeade, Ndure. He's the best so far of Tier 3; Gay's return is uncertain; and Dix might be in striking range if CL improves this year, and THAT is why he should have focused his efforts on the 200m.

Heck, if Dix comes up injured, CL has a solid chance for a medal!

Dix is so solid at 200m

I feel bad for the guy, he's one of the fastest clean sprinters on the planet but likely won't medal because the dopers will be so far ahead.

I agree with all that. With the exception of Gay in the 200m I'm doubting we see him there again at this stage of the career and his injury history. So, it's pretty realistic to have CL there ready to pounce if any of the big three falter.

I'm actually in favor of him totally shining the 100m at the Olympics, put all his energies into what he does best.

Who are those dopers...name names?

Dix aint no tier 2.

Avante wrote:

Who are those dopers...name names?

No names needed. You can just tell from the way they all look compared to Lemaitre.

There are high school sprinters that dwarf CL.

sprintgeezer - he is a WC medalist at 200m. he is definitely first tier by any measure - a super-elite sprinter.

If we go with

tier one...medal contenders

tier two..would need an injury in tier one to be a medal contender

tier three...finals is about it

tier four...could make a final but would be a surprise

Dix is tier one.

I like everybody pulling for Dix!

Really, though, I think that Blake and Bolt are in another league, although Bolt only went 19.40 last year.

Ok, based on last year's results then, Blake is the only current top-tier, given the fact that his was a WR run with a non-WR RT. Remember the way he manhandled Dix in the last 100? Blake is in another league from Dix because he can beat Dix as he chooses. Blake was in complete control of who was going to win that race, and Dix knew it, which was why he was pissed--he didn't even have a chance, for whatever reason.

Dix was really amazing last year, I never would have predicted that much of an improvement.

OK, how about this: first tier, Blake; second tier, Dix, Bolt, and maybe Gay; third tier, Lemaitre, Ashmeade, Ndure, and hopefully Salaam and Spearmon.

BTW, I believe that Dix is clean, his 100m PR and performance history fits my fantasy model of excellent clean sprinting (9.88 +1.0) That puts him at 22nd on the all-time list, but if you remove bogus results ahead of him (Rodgers 9.85, Mullings 9.80, and maybe others), he moves up a bit.

Plus, his 19.53 last year moves him, by my probably incorrect calculation, to the #4 spot all-time in 100/200 combo guys, behind Bolt 2730, Blake 2627, Gay 2625, then Dix 2560, followed by X. Carter 2501. ( I used only the 100 and 200 scoring from this table and interpolated linearly:

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/archive/mComboSprinters.pdf

)

He is awesome, there is no doubt.

But Blake is still more awesome in the 200.

He's more ectomorph than Peter Snell, maybe even Solinsky. Who knows, maybe he's a miler?

All this nonsense about fast-twitch is B.S. All the best middle distance guys are FAST.

Get him up to 100-120 miles a week and shave off 40 pounds.

It's clear he's never going to compete with the big boys without gear, lifting heavy isn't going to change his physique that radically.

Check out some things from that list, however: it is clear that people are 2-event people, and that their weakest event drags them down, and is essentially unimportant to them:

For the 400m, Carl Lewis 47.01, Greene 48.79, N. Carter 47.82, Dix 46.75...for the 100m, Johnson 10.09, L. Merritt 10.47

Wariner isn't even on the list? What does he run for the 100, 11.00?