In the eight years of the European Athletics Team Championships, Christophe Lemaitre has become the King of Sprints and now his home crowd will have the chance to see him wear the crown.
As Lille stages the Super League between June 23-25, French star Lemaitre, 26, has confirmed the competition is very much in his plans.
His aim for the year is on two fronts: the 100m and 200m.
He is intent on making the podium at the IAAF World Championships in London in August and along the way will be a series of big races, including the European Athletics Team Championships where he has written himself into the history of the event which began in 2009.
Lemaitre broke his personal best by finishing second in Bergen in 2010 in 10.02, a tasty start to a summer where he would progress to become the European 100m and 200m champion in Barcelona.
He was the man to beat, and by the time Stockholm staged the European Athletics Team Championships in 2011, he was unstoppable once more, taking his sprinting to a new level.
Lemaitre won the 100m in a then-French record of 9.95 and took the 200m in 20.28, performances which remain the championship records.
In Gateshead in 2013 he retained the 200m title in 20.27 and then in 2015, when the championships were last staged in Cheboksary, Lemaitre regained the 100m gold in 10.26.
He will prepare for the summer by training on the island of Reunion in the Indian ocean, an idyllic setting for what could be one of the biggest years of his life and where in June, France will host the European Athletics Team Championships for the first time … with one of their superstars leading the way.