Harrison eyes spectacular performance from Bloomfield
Jamaica’s sprinting prodigy, Akeem Bloomfield of Kingston College (KC), is on course for something special, says his coach Neil Harrison, as they prepare to strut their stuff at this week’s Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Bloomfield, the 400m National Junior record holder with 44.93 seconds, is said to be in top form having been gently nursed back to full fitness by Harrison.
“You have to do it timely and that’s one of the reasons why I utilised him as best as possible,” said Harrison.
“But with time, he will be fine. He is in good shape now and we are just hoping that he stays healthy and once he stays healthy, he could give us something spectacular,” Harrison added.
Bloomfield, now 18 years old, burst onto the scene in 2014 as an unknown 16-year-old with times of 10.42 and 21.06 seconds for the 100m and 200m, respectively, before injury ended his season prematurely.
Then Harrison, a successful coach at Munro College, was given the head coaching job at KC and that was the beginning of a wonderful association with Bloomfield.
Harrison decided to work on Bloomfield’s core area, which he thought was weak and was the main reason for his injuries. With that in mind, he switched him from the more explosive sprints to the 400m with great success.
Bloomfield, in his first season as a quarter-miler ran an astonishing 44.93 seconds and broke the Class One 400m record of 45.00 set a year earlier by Javon Francis. It was the first time in history that a schoolboy had dipped below the coveted 45-second barrier.
Bloomfield, with that out-of-body experience, was rested for the remainder of the season and only returned this year in time for Champs.
He was tentatively handled and successfully defended his 400m title at Champs in 46.12 seconds and later revealing that his coach instructed him not to break the record. The tall Bloomfield, standing at six feet four inches, also defended his regional Carifta Games Under-20 title in 46.01 seconds.
“He will be running both the 4x100m and the 4x400m; (44.5 relay split) at Champs is no ordinary time for a schoolboy and I believe he is in good shape. He was pretty much just recovering from an injury. He has tremendous talent and he is training quite well,” noted Harrison.
Rumours out of KC were that Bloomfield stopped the clock at an amazing 19.9 seconds in a 200m workout, but Harrison quickly denied that claim.
“I don’t know about that,” he told the Jamaica Observer. But one thing he knows is that Bloomfield is on course to do well at Jamaica’s Junior and Senior trials.
“The objective is to get him ready for the World Junior Championships. But we want to also move one step at a time and earn a spot on the Olympic team, because that is his dream,” Harrison reiterated.
“He has the potential to do well and I am just keeping him healthy, keeping him in good shape and honing his talent as best as possible to ensure that I can help him obtain his objectives,” said Harrison.