Lemaitre again misses sub-10sec time

RIETI, Italy (AFP) –

France’s Christophe Lemaitre (C) runs to first place in the Men’s 100m in front of Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Kim Collins (L) and Jamaica’s Lerone Clarke at the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting at the Raul Guidobaldi Stadium in Rieti.

France’s Christophe Lemaitre, last month hailed as Europe’s best chance to break the Jamaican-US Olympic sprint hegemony, brought his disappointing season to an end Sunday with a victory in the men’s 100 metres.

Lemaitre, the French record-holder in the 100m with a best of 9.92sec, clocked 10.04sec to finish ahead of St Kitts and Nevis veteran Kim Collins (10.09sec) and Norway’s Ghana-born Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (10.14).

His winning time meant that the 22-year-old Frenchman failed to register a sub-10sec time this season, which has been in great contrast to that of 2011.

Lemaitre, the defending two-time European double sprint champion, finished fourth in the 100m in the Daegu world championships a year ago and then claimed bronze in the 200m in a French record of 19.80sec.

He skipped the 100m at the London Olympics, but after clocking 20.03 in the semi-final could only finish sixth in the final of the 200m in 20.19sec, with the top four finishers going under 19.90sec.

“For the end of season it’s good, I equalled my best performance,” Lemaitre said. “I would have hoped for better, but you can’t be choosy.

“There’s a bit of disappointment over the whole of the season because I didn’t medal in the Games and that was the goal.

“The satisfying things are France and Europe. But as a whole, there’s more disappointment than happiness.

“I’ve stagnated rather than gone backwards but there are questions that will be need to be asked to see what has to change.”