European Athletics Rising Star of the Year for 2009 Christophe Lemaître of France is set for new challenges in 2010.

Will Europe soon have a challenger to the phenomenal Usain Bolt? It has been a question on many people's minds ever since France's Christophe Lemaître set a new European 100m junior record of 10.04 seconds in July.

The 19-year-old sprinter and 2009 European Athletics Rising Star of the Year presented by MONDO is well aware of what people are saying. "It's flattering but I prefer not to think about it. I prefer to remain myself and I do not care really what happens around me."

Lemaître seems well adjusted to his new status as the continent's great sprint hope. "I have no problem with the attention that is being focussed on me. It's all fine, but I still prefer to concentrate on actually running," added the teenager from Aix-les-Bains.

However, there are certain physical similarities between Lemaître and the Jamaican who has changed the face of sprinting, indeed the sport as a whole, in the last two seasons.

He's tall and lean in comparison to many, more muscular, sprinters, including his compatriot Ronald Pognon whose French record of 9.99 he has in his sights for next season.

"After the European juniors, I went to the World Championships in Berlin with the ambition of going below 10 seconds and getting the French record. I didn't feel any pressure, even though competing alongside the seniors at a World Championships is another universe from junior competition. However, it didn't go that way. I was disqualified for a false start in my second race," reflected Lemaître, who currently stands 1.92m in his running spikes.

In the European Athletics Junior Championships 100m final in Novi Sad, Serbia, Lemaître produced a superb start when the spotlight was on him. He was quickest out of his blocks - with the amazing reaction time for a tall sprinter of 0.120 - and was straight into his running.

In warm conditions with the temperature gauge reading 33 degrees, but with virtually no following wind, there was a yawning gap between himself and the rest of the field by 40 metres and Lemaître never gave his rivals a chance to come back at him.

He stopped the clock at 10.04 and consigned the previous European junior record of 10.06, set by Dwain Chambers when the British sprinter won at the 1997 European Athletics Junior Championships, to history.

"I was only focused getting to the top of the podium. Of course, I was motivated to make a good time but in a championship it is always at the bottom of the list of priorities," added Lemaître after his record run.

The rivalry between Lemaître and Azerbaijan ace Ramil Guliyev is set to put Europe on the sprint map of the world.

I thought that the junior record of France might come, but the European record, I did not expect at all. I am a bit speechless," he said at the time.

Lemaître has been on everybody's radar since some impressive performances at the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships, where he finished fourth and fifth respectively over 100m and 200m. Last year, he concentrated more on the longer sprint and won the world junior 200m title in 20.83.

This year started as he left off last summer, clocking a French junior indoor 60m record of 6.64 in February before quickly showing what he was capable of outdoors.

He flew to a heavily wind-assisted 10.03 100m in Forbach on 31 May to catch everyone's attention again and then set a French junior 100m record of 10.17 when winning at the French Junior Championships in Bondoufle on 10 June.

However, all this was a prelude to the fireworks he produced in Novi Sad, a race which has become a hit among athletics aficionados on YouTube.

Ironically, it was to be the peak of his season. Lemaître had hoped to add a 4x100m relay gold to his list of accolades in Novi Sad but some sloppy work by his compatriots during their heat meant the baton never reached him.

His disqualification in Berlin was also a disappointment but he bounced back to anchor the French 4x100m relay quartet to eighth place in the World Championships final.

If Lemaître remains calm about the fact that he may be lining up against Bolt in the coming seasons, the question then has to be, "What does Bolt think about the fact that he may soon have a European rival?"

"He looks impressive. He's young, he's fast. I honestly don't know much about him but his times speak for themselves and I've got to respect that," said Bolt appreciatively when quizzed about Lemaître recently.