The 20-year-old from from the Alpine spa town of L'Aix-les-Bains exploded onto the international scene during 2010 with a succession of fast times culminating on July 9 in Valence when he became the first white athlete to break the 10 seconds barrier with a time of 9.98secs.

He followed that up by winning three golds in the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

Lemaitre topped the L'Equipe poll ahead of World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb and world judo champion Teddy Riner.