Bloomfield could medal – Boldon

Even though Akeem Bloomfield has taken the long route to being selected to run the 400m at this week’s IAAF World Championships, sprint analyst Ato Boldon thinks the tall Jamaican has a shot at a medal.

Boldon has picked US star Michael Norman to win, but while he agrees that Norman’s compatriot, Fred Kerley, and 2017 runner-up Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas could be the other medal winners, he feels this battle is wide open.

“I could see a situation where it is Gardiner second or Kerley third, Bloomfield second, Kerley third,” Boldon said.

Kerley held Norman at bay at the US Trials, 43.64 to 43.79 seconds, before Norman equalised in 44.26 seconds at the Diamond League final in Brussels. That followed Norman’s early-season world leader of 43.45 seconds.

“I do have Norman winning because I just feel like he is the least likely to make a mistake. After that, I’m not so sure”, said Boldon, the 1997 200m world champion for Trinidad and Tobago.

“I think the 400m is going to be one of the chaos races. It’s not going to go according to the form chart at all. So after Norman, I have it wide, wide open.

“I would not be surprised if he (Bloomfield) takes a medal at all. I do think that him and Gardiner, and Kirani [James] certainly have enough, have had good enough seasons where if they timed it right, they are getting to run a season’s best in Doha, and I think a season’s best is going to be good enough for a medal.”

Bloomfield was fifth in the 200m at the National Senior Championships, but his focus on the 400m has produced two Diamond League wins in London, the fastest time by a Jamaican this year at 44.40 seconds, and third place behind Norman and Kerley in Brussels.

“If you have told somebody, after how he looked at the Jamaican Championships, that he was going to be in this position going into Doha, they would have said, ‘You crazy?!’, but he’s figured it out,” Boldon said.

COMPETITION

Norman, Kerley, Gardiner, and Bloomfield have all run under 44 seconds in either 2018 or 2019. But Boldon believes they had better watch out for 2011 World champion and 2012 Olympic winner James. The 27-year-old Grenadian hero entered the fray with a run of 44.47 seconds on deadline day, September 6, for World Championships qualifying marks, and his experience could be a factor.

“Kirani is the one person, if I were a quarter-miler, that I would be worried about in that final,” Boldon concluded.