Bailey sets sights on WC medal, national record
Sean Bailey, the newly minted Jamaican national men’s 400m champion, is adamant he’s not going to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, just to make up numbers.
Minutes after he beat Antonio Watson in a close and exciting final at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships at the National Stadium on Sunday, Bailey, who ran 44.48 seconds to win his second national senior title, said he has big plans.
“I am looking for a medal for sure, not just making the final, a medal for sure, and I want the national record as well,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Bailey went to the national championships in great form after lowering his lifetime best to 44.43.
And his clash with Watson — who finished second in the final with a personal best 44.54 — lived up to expectations as one of the contests to look forward to over the weekend.
Bailey, who has set his sights on Rusheen McDonald’s national record 43.93, was not pleased with his semi-final run on Saturday and knew he had to make amends in the final.
“I hadn’t felt like myself throughout the rounds,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“I just talked to my coach about it and fixed it in the finals. I felt great the first 100 metres so I’m like, ‘Okay, let me just relax.’ I know Antonio Watson’s a great finisher, so I just wanted to have something to come home with because I know he’d be finishing strong.”
He identitied what he felt affected him in the semi-finals.
“I used my arms way too much so I didn’t have any kick, so today I just saved my arms into, like, 300m when I knew Antonio would pull up because his race strategy is pretty similar to mine, so I just knew that I needed to finish,” he explained.
Bailey outlined his plans after the national championships.
“We go back to a three-week block cycle in El Paso (Texas), three hard weeks and then I have a race before. We taper [off] the fourth week and then I have a race August 4 and then from there we taper again and then be ready for Worlds,” he said.