Akeem Bloomfield

The 2019 World Championships 400 metres finalist, speaking on Sportsmax TV’s On Point, says that after sustaining an injury in April, he is ready to go.

“It was a really bad injury to my right hamstring. I did an intensive rehab process after I got injured. Even though I shut down my season I was still doing rehab. So, I can say for the most part, right now I’m 100 percent healthy,” he said.

Bloomfield, who holds the Class 1 400m record at the ISSA Boys and Girls' Championships in Jamaica at 44.98, which made him the first Jamaican schoolboy at break 45 second at the championships,  will also be going into this season with a new camp after leaving MVP international and joining the Tumbleweed Track Club based in Florida.

Other members of that club include Olympic 200 metres champion, Andre DeGrasse, and former Calabar rival and Olympic 400 metres finalist, Christopher Taylor.

Bloomfield expanded on training alongside Taylor at the club.

“I can say it’s a very good experience, so far. I mean, we had that high school rivalry so now to put that aside and focus now as professional athletes and train in the same group, I’d say it’s good so far. He’s a very good training partner and I can see us building a very good relationship as the season progresses,” he said.

In a trip down memory lane for many fans of the Jamaican High School Track and Field Championships, or “Champs” as it is affectionately called, Bloomfield was asked about his famous showdown with Taylor on the anchor leg in the Boys open 4x400 metres relay in 2016.

When asked if he would have done anything differently looking back, Bloomfield said he wouldn’t change anything.

“I wouldn’t have used a different strategy because I don’t think people really paid attention to how close our personal bests were. At the time his personal best was 45.2 and mine was 44.9. That’s a very close margin so for me to get the baton 15 metres behind, I can’t be the one to go catch him and then sit behind him. I had to try to zoom ahead and try to hold form and unfortunately it did not work out,” he said.

The full interview can be seen on the Sportsmax TV YouTube channel.

Bloomfield, a former Kingston College star athlete, announced the tragic news on his Instagram account today, revealing that his mother had been hiding her condition for the past three years.

“I found out on Sunday morning that my mom has stage-4 breast cancer that has spread to her bones,” he said.

“She was first diagnosed in 2018 but she kept this information from her children because she was protecting us. Her cancer has broken down her spine so bad that she is now paralyzed from the waist down.

She has to undergo surgery to fix her spine before she starts chemotherapy in the hopes of saving her life. The medical expenses are a lot and me and my family will be doing as much as we can to help remedy the situation, however, the medical bills are too much for us to handle alone.”

He directed his followers to the link on his Instagram page that will lead to the gofundme account which is www.gofundme.com/f/9hzsg-help-us-save-our-mom?

“Any support helps even if it’s just sharing the gofundme and whispering a word of prayer for her,” the distraught athlete pleaded.

Bloomfield was an easy winner, clocking 46.20 seconds, to get the better of the United States’ Obi Igbokwe, 46.41, and Kuwait’s Yousef Karam, 46.49.

Allen, however, who is returning from an injury that stopped him from finding his way to last year’s IAAF World Championships of Athletics, found the going tough and rounded out the eight-man field in 47.89 seconds.

Czech Republic’s Pavel Maslák, 46.51, and Great Britain’s James Williams, 47.26, were the other athletes to finish ahead of Allen.

Bloomfield, a finalist in the 400m at the 2019 Doha World Championships, had announced three weeks ago that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2018, but only just revealed her condition to her children last month.

Bloomfield and his sister Kaydene Wright launched a GoFundMe account hoping to raise USD$65,000 to assist with the cost of surgery on her spinal that had been compromised by cancer that had also spread to other parts of her body.

Alas, it was in vain as Palmer died early Thursday.

“Words can’t express the feelings of loss and pain me and my family are going through right now. Unfortunately, my mother lost her battle against cancer yesterday and I would give anything just to have one more moment with her,” the grieving athlete posted on Instagram today.

“She was more than just my mom, she was my motivation and my best friend.

“I would like to thank all those who donated, whispered a prayer or just had her and my family in your thoughts.”

The 22-year-old quarter-miler ran a world-leading 45.07 to win ahead of Josephus Lyles, brother to 200m World Champion Noah Lyles, who was timed in 45.40. For Bloomfield, it was a solid follow up performance coming up after his 20.8 200m just over a week ago.

“ I feel satisfied with my 45.07 season opener. It is the fastest I have ever opened my season in the 400m,” said the former Auburn man, who suggested that he could have gone even faster.

“I could not execute the race in the manner I wanted to due to my hamstring cramping during the race but I just kept a steady pace and tried to finish strong so to see a time of 45.07 is a good enough result for me.”

Bloomfield, who has a personal best of 43.94, 0.01 outside Jamaica’s national record indicated that the run was a sign that training has been going according to plan, despite the pandemic lockdown

“Training has been going fairly well. We have been back on the track for about a month and we are just trying to make up for the time we lost during lockdown due to the coronavirus,” he said.

Bloomfield was not the only Jamaican winner at the meet last Friday night as World U20 silver medallist Britany Anderson racing against sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili, ran 12.82 to take the 100m hurdles.

Porter was second in 12.92 while Ofili clocked 12.95 for third.

Bloomfield, who is based in Florida at MVP International, stumbled and fell at the top of the straightway in the half-lap sprint and was seen clutching his leg while grimacing in pain. He was eventually helped off the track, triggering fears that he would have been out for some time, perhaps for the remainder of the season.

With the Jamaican Olympic trials coming up in June, there were even fears that he would not be able to compete and try to book a spot in the country’s contingent for the summer Olympics in Tokyo.

However, after an MRI examination, the 200/400m athlete posted some encouraging words on Instagram that would have his many fans breathing a collective sigh of relief.

“It did look like a bad injury on TV but the MRI results showed that there was no major tear or damage,” a relieved Bloomfield posted on Instagram.

Notwithstanding the good news, Bloomfield revealed that he is still in some amount of discomfort.

“My right glute and hamstring contracted really bad and as of right now are just really inflamed,” he said.

“I am expected to make a full recovery and hopefully I will be back in training soon.

“Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to reach out. The support means a lot.”

He did say, however, that he intends to go a bit faster over the course of the season as the Olympic Games draw nearer.

Also at the meet held at the Tropical Park Stadium, Jamaica’s Akeem Bloomfield and Natalliah Whyte, Greene’s MVP International training partners, enjoyed impressive wins over 200m.

The 25-year-old Greene was second in his preliminary round heat in 10.27 behind the USA’s World Championship 400m medalist, Fred Kerley, who won in 10.15. However, he managed to turn the tables on his more celebrated American rival in the final, winning in 10.01.

Kerley was second in 10.11, the third-fastest time in the world this year, while Jeremy Bascomb was third in 10.51.

Greene said the time came as a bit of a shock.

“I was surprised to see 10.01 show up on the clock but coach been saying I am in good shape, I have been training well so once I executed a good race I should run fairly fast, but in my head, fairly fast meant 10.1/10.2, so it just shows that if you listen to your coach and do what you have been doing in practice you should be fine,” said Greene, who ran with a trailing wind of 1.2m/s.

He revealed that having Fred Kerley in the race also played its part in his fast season-opener that bumped China’s Bingtian Su’s 10.05 that was run earlier Saturday, from the top spot.

“Fred’s presence made me have to focus a little bit more because we all know Fred is fast so it kind of forced me to compete at a higher level,” Greene said.

“Fred’s presence really changed the game because I knew I had to execute a really good race because Fred is fast and he is strong, he is one of the best 400m athletes in the world so I know I had to execute the start very well to win the race.”

Realistically, it should not have been that much of a surprise for the 2016 Olympian given how well he says he has been training at MVP International’s base camp in Florida. He said the competitive nature of training has helped him bring out his best.

“My training group definitely helped me push a little harder this year. Being alongside Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen and Teray Smith each day at practice, it gets really competitive and we push each other and we go at it. Every day is like a race so I think that really helped me to push myself to be in a lot better shape this early,” he said while revealing that he intends to dip below 10 seconds in time for the Olympic Games this summer.

“The goal is to go sub-10 and once we keep healthy and keep listening to the coach and keep executing races, getting race sharp, that should happen. So my goal is to keep improving each week in practice, stay healthy and go on to the Olympics and do great things.”

He said he is likely to race next in Clermont on April 4, where he could be running the 200m.

“I want to improve my 200 times. I know once I can improve over the 200m it should translate pretty good into the 100 so I’ll probably give it a shot down there.”

Bloomfield was also impressive at the meet seemingly exerting relatively little effort in winning the 200m in 20.75 over Teray Smith (20.90) and Zaza Wellington (21.05), respectively.

In the women’s event, Whyte, a sprint relay gold medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, was the fastest Jamaican in the world with her winning time of 22.88.

In the time trial, Angela Tenorio was second-best in 23.06 while Ashley Kelly was third in 24.18.

The three 100m medalists from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics all looked extremely easy to win their semi-finals in 22.54, 22.68 and 22.85, respectively.

Jackson, who secured the 100m title on Friday, looked especially easy, completely shutting down in the last 100m of the race.

Natalliah Whyte (23.05), Ashanti Moore (23.21), Kevona Davis (23.33), Jodean Williams (23.21) and Dominique Clarke (23.29) will join them in the final.

Meanwhile, 100m Champion Yohan Blake led all qualifiers to the Men’s final with a season’s best 20.20 to win his semi-final ahead of Andrew Hudson (20.23).

2020 Olympic finalist Rasheed Dwyer will also contest Sunday’s final after producing 20.35 to win his semi-final ahead of Nigel Ellis (20.45).

Mario Heslop (20.52), Riquan Graham (20.66), Jazeel Murphy (20.67) and Antonio Watson (20.74) complete the line-up for the final.

NCAA Championships silver medalist Charokee Young (50.19), 2020 Olympic finalist Candice McLeod (50.85), Stacey-Ann Williams (50.87) and 2013 World Championship bronze medalist Stephenie Ann McPherson (50.67) led all qualifiers to the Women’s 400m final.

The men were led by Jevaughn Powell (45.38), Anthony Cox (45.43), Nathon Allen (45.52) and Akeem Bloomfield (45.59).

The qualifiers for the Women’s sprint hurdles final were led by Britany Anderson (12.45), Megan Tapper (12.61), 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams (12.59) and Demisha Roswell (12.84).

Reigning Olympic Champion Hansle Parchment (13.24), Orlando Bennett (13.27), Rasheed Broadbell (13.29) and 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champion Omar McLeod (13.36) led the qualifiers to the Men’s 110m hurdles final.

In the field, 2019 World Championship silver medalist Danniel Thomas-Dodd threw 18.79m to win her seventh national title ahead of Lloydricia Cameron (16.96m) and Danielle Sloley (15.98m).

Wayne Pinnock added to his NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles earlier this season with a personal best 8.14m to win the Men’s long jump ahead of defending World Champion Tajay Gayle (7.97m) and Shawn-D Thompson (7.88m).

The team, who is in a rebuilding phase after dominating men’s track and field for almost a decade, finished in a three-way tie for fifth on the table with 20 points. Eight points are accumulated for first place and a point for eighth.

Hosts USA, thanks to standout performances from the likes of Noah Lyles, Michael Norman and Fred Kerley to name a few, absolutely dominated the Championships and finished at the top of the table with 118 points.

The rest of the top ten was rounded out by Kenya (46), Great Britain (28), Canada (24), Jamaica (20), Ethiopia (20), Uganda (20), Norway (17), Spain (17) and South Africa (12).

Jamaica’s only medal came in the 4x400m where the team of Akeem Bloomfield, Jevaughn Powell, Nathon Allen and Christopher Taylor ran 2:58.58 for silver behind the USA.

They also finished just outside the medals in the 4x100m where Akeem Blake, Oblique Seville, Yohan Blake and Jelani Walker combined to run 38.06 to finish behind Canada (37.48), USA (37.55) and Great Britain (37.83).

Individually, Seville had the best performance finishing fourth in the 100m in 9.97 behind the American trio of Fred Kerley (9.86), Marvin Bracy (9.88) and Trayvon Bromell (9.88).

Jamaica’s other two individual finalists to place in the top eight were Jaheel Hyde who finished sixth in the 400m Hurdles and Christopher Taylor who finished seventh in the 400m.

The 2019 World Championship sprint-relay gold medalist, who recently celebrated her 27^th birthday ran 7.50 in the preliminary round before winning the final in 7.35. The MVP International sprinter held off the fast-finishing Dominique Clarke, who ran 7.38 for second.

Third was Smith’s MVP teammate Kasheika Cameron, who crossed the finish line in 7.58.

It was a welcome return to competition for the 2018 CAC 100m champion who has been plagued by injury over the past two seasons and who ran only three 100m races in 2022 at the Jamaica National Championships in June.

Meanwhile, Michael Campbell also of MVP International won the men’s equivalent in 6.71 as he continues his return from a broken back suffered during a motorvehicle accident in 2017 that claimed the life of his friend Jordon Scott.

Campbell won in a close finish with Ethan Exilhomme, who was timed in 6.73.

Bryan Sosoo was third in 6.85.

In the Men’s 400m, Akeem Bloomfield, who is now a member of the Puma Chase Athletics Training Group after a year at Tumbleweed in Florida, finished second to Wellington Ventura in a tight finish.

Ventura clocked 47.10 to Bloomfield’s 47.11.

Shevioe Reid was third in 47.21.

Bromell, who leads the world this year with a 9.88 seconds run, is tipped for Saturday’s short sprint title at the World Athletics Continental Tour – Silver meet, to be held at the Ansin Sports Complex, Miramar, Florida, USA.

Blake, the 2011 100m world champion, would be hoping to challenge the in-form Bromell for the top spot. Among the other key contenders are American Christopher Belcher and St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Jason Rogers. Trinidad and Tobago’s 2008 Olympic 100m silver medallist Richard Thompson is on the comeback trail and will test himself in Saturday’s century.

Thompson is also expected to feature on one of two Trinidad and Tobago teams entered in the men’s 4x100m relay. Jamaica, Bahamas, Antigua & Barbuda and Guyana are also listed for sprint relay action. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will try to improve on the times that currently have them in qualifying spots for the Tokyo Olympics.

Among the entrants in the men’s 400m event is 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt. The American quarter-miler will be challenged by Trinidad and Tobago’s Deon Lendore and Jamaican Akeem Bloomfield.

Jamaica’s reigning Commonwealth Games champion Fedrick Dacres will seek revenge on Samoa’s Alex Rose in a mouth-watering men’s discus clash. On May 22, in Arizona, Rose produced a 67.48 metres national record throw to capture the USA Track & Field (USATF) Throws Fest crown, forcing Dacres (65.20m) into second spot.

Marquis Dendy of the United States would fancy his chances of topping the men’s long jump field. Among his challengers will be Trinidad and Tobago’s Andwuelle Wright.

Canadian Marco Arop is the favourite in the men’s 800m event. Jamaican Kemar Mowatt and Americans Quincy Hall, Kenny Selmon and Amere Lattin will be in the hunt in the men’s 400m hurdles. And on current form, Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell is the man to beat in the men’s 110m hurdles.

Reigning Olympic champions, Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica and Americans Dalilah Muhammad and Tianna Bartoletta are among the female stars on the entry list.

Some 200 athletes from 27 countries are expected to be on show at the NACAC New Life Invitational. Saturday’s meet starts at 2 pm (Eastern Daylight Time).