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News11 Jul 2008


Men’s 200m

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It took France’s Christophe Lemaitre a personal best 20.83 ran into a 0.9 head wind to claim his country’s second medal of the Championships and fittingly the second one in the space of one hour.

Lemaitre is now the sixth French athlete ever to win gold at the IAAF World Junior Championships following on the footsteps of Jean Galfione, Sylviane Felix, Muriel Hurtis, Benjamin Campaoré and his team-mate Teddy Tamgho whose victory in the triple jump earlier tonight inspired him to gold.

“I saw he won so I told myself I have to do the same,” said an ecstatic winner.

Lemaitre out-dipped Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade by only one hundredth of a second, the Frenchman’s home straight, and especially his last 30 metres, a very powerful one. Indeed Lemaitre had to outcome taking the poorest start of the field and entering the home straight well behind Ashmeade and American Curtis Mitchell.

While all eyes were on fast finishing Lemaitre and whether or not he would have enough room to catch up, Robert Hering of Germany also finished strong and took bronze in 20.96, 2 hundredths of a second clear of Mitchell.

Lemaitre was clearly not sure he had done it but when the score board flashed his name in first he kneeled to the ground and let his joy explode.

“It is an immense joy to be the winner.”

For the third consecutive edition of these championships the men’s 200m title goes to Europe after Andrew Howe in 2004 and Marek Niit in 2006. The last American representative to win a medal in this event is Allyson Felix’s brother Wes who claimed bronze behind Usain Bolt in Kingston 2002.

Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF

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