Christophe Lemaitre outclassed Wallace Spearmon at the Kawasaki Super Meet in Japan, the traditional finale for the outdoor season. A 1.6 m/s head wind denied the speedsters of low-10 or sub-10 second performances in the 100m dash. The Frenchman overtook the fast-starting Naoki Tsukahara, who dropped down to fourth place, as Spearmon and Ramil Guliyev finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
The French record holder stopped the clock at 10.26s against the American’s 10.47s. Guliyev of Azerbaijan (who edged out Lemaitre at the 200m dash in the 2009 European Junior Championships) finished in third (10.50s).
Spearmon is the most illustrious sprinter Lemaitre had beaten. Even if the American specializes in the 200m dash (19.65s PB), Spearmon’s 100m PB is one-hundredths of a second faster than European record holder. Aside from Spearmon’s World Championship bronzes, the American finished third place at the Beijing Olympics, only to get disqualified for stepping out of his lane.
Even if the victory came at the tail-end of the outdoor season, a win is still a win.
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