Season cut short at the end of June, injured for the umpteenth time, and separation from his longtime coach, Thierry Tribondeau: 2022 came to a halt for Christophe Lemaitre (32), whose last year at international level dates back to 2018.
“I was tired of being at a dead end in terms of performance, regressing and always getting injured. I needed to try something completely different to try and get back on track,” explained the sprinter.
Two years before the Paris Games, the Frenchman is embarking on what looks like a final challenge with a tailor-made project, articulated between Aix-les-Bains and Metz, around Anaïs Mougeot, his partner trainer, Massamba M’Baye for the physical preparation, Frédéric Gazeau for the land work, all coordinated from his Savoyard stronghold by one of his former training partners, Manuel Reynaert, and enriched by the eye of Richard Cursaz, the manager of the French 4x100m relay.
“Broken down from every angle”
Never has the former pupil of Pierre Carraz, his historic trainer who keeps an attentive eye, had so many people around him.
“It’s true that it’s the first time. Before, it was a fairly closed circle. Now, it’s really widening. It’s a totally different course, more open, with new methods, new means , describes the quadruple European champion (100m, 200m and 4x100m in 2010, 200m in 2012). I really wanted to turn my habits upside down from A to Z.”
Notable contribution to his new organization: the scientific expertise of a Geneva team specializing in sports medicine, led by François Fourchet, to “take a picture of his physical condition”, explains Reynaert, and guide his preparation. Which earned Lemaitre throughout the summer a battery of tests “from the hips to the toes” and “at the level of the back” to “break it down from every angle”.
Olympic ambitions
Because the number 1 priority is there: to rebuild a physique for him to match his Olympic ambitions, he who has never had a physical trainer.
“We have to rebuild it. Christophe has been injured a lot for five years. We had to understand why, the sprinter’s project coordinator told AFP. We are still going through all the balance sheets” but “we have of the first elements.
“Physically, he was overtrained when he was not training much: we observed that certain sessions were not profiled for a Christophe Lemaitre”, he illustrates, referring to “too fast intensities in preparation land” who “have largely contributed to the fact that he is in overdrive all the time”.
“Take time”
Five weeks after his resumption of training, without wearing spikes until then, a watchword is essential: “take the time”, to rebuild.
“We will do our best so that he can run why not this winter, but we remain cautious. The basis of the project is that Christophe can do the 2024 Olympics. Everything else is distraction” , slice Reynaert when asked about a return to competition horizon.
“I bet everything on this organization, there are two years left, I will not be able to reorganize myself along the way”, considers the one who is also a double world medalist in 2011 (bronze in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m).
His very first impressions confirm him: “I have the impression that I have never felt so good in my body / in good shape”, appreciates the most beautiful list of French men’s sprints.