A couple hours ago, Christophe Lemaitre, the young French sprint sensation ran the first wind-legal sub ten 100m time of a person of non West-African descent. This ‘barrier’ has been looming over the head of Caucasian sprinters for many years now. Congrats to Christophe on his great time (regardless of ethnicity). Is this a big accomplishment? Is it really a milestone when the current world record sits almost 4 tenths of a second faster? Is he actually a statistical anomaly or is he a trailblazer in a similar way that Roger Bannister was to the mile (and the perceived 4 minute mile barrier). Personally, I think Christophe appears to be a very talented young sprinter and I’m excited to see what he can do however I think it would be best if we recognize that the proverbial bar to elite 100m sprinting has long since moved beyond 10.00 and that we cheer for Christophe and other young sprinters (regardless of ethnicity) to close the gap between them and Bolt, Powell, and Gay.
Mike Young
Latest posts by Mike Young (see all)
- Mitigating the Interference Effect - June 17, 2019
- Dan Pfaff highlights High Performance Athletic Development Conference Lineup - March 31, 2018
- Coaching High Hurdles [Slidedeck] - February 3, 2018
- Means & Methods of Eccentric Training [Slidedeck] - January 30, 2018
- Implementing a Mechanical Model for Plyometric Progressions [Slidedeck] - January 23, 2018