“It’s quite crazy right now!” laughs Alexander Doom as he tries to adjust to the new normal: life as a world champion.
Since returning from the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow to his base in Ghent, the 26-year-old Belgian has been inundated with media requests, which he has been happy to oblige.
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“We won the (4x400m) gold in Belgrade two years ago so I know what it is to win a medal, but to do so individually at this level, that’s something totally different,” he says. “I try to enjoy it.”
Still, Doom (pronounced Dohm) can’t enjoy it too much, given the countdown is on to more major events: the European Athletics Championships in Rome from 7-12 June and the Olympics in Paris in early August.
Doom is yet to nail down his exact plans for Rome, but they will include the individual 400m along with at least one relay.
“The main focus there is the 400m,” he says. “The goal is to win. In Europe there are a lot of talented guys so it’s not easy. A medal is definitely possible; the mindset is good, the physique is good.”
Doom certainly proved that in Glasgow.
Individual ambitions grow after fast season's debut
At the start of the season he planned to compete only in the 4x400m at the World Indoor Championships but after opening his season with a 45.89 400m in Metz, he changed course.
He was ranked fifth on the entry-list in the 400m but among those behind him was defending champion Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago and two-time European indoor 400m champion Karsten Warholm of Norway – both of whom opened their seasons in Glasgow.
Doom made a flying start at the Emirates Arena, winning his heat in 46.11 and setting an indoor PB of 45.69 to win his semifinal. He went out for the final with a higher goal than individual glory.
His friend and teammate Julien Watrin had texted him on the buildup, telling him he could break the national record of 45.44 that Watrin ran to win silver behind Warholm at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Watrin was diagnosed with testicular cancer last year and has been undergoing chemotherapy in recent months. As a result, Doom had “a really big motivation to run really fast.”
That’s exactly what he did.
Drawn in lane six for the final, he decided not to battle Warholm for the lead at the break, knowing the Norwegian’s habit of blasting the first lap. “The most important thing for me was to go out on the second lap as the second runner,” says Doom.
“I knew it was a bit of the same race like (in Istanbul) with Julien. The last 50 metres, Karsten always slows down a little as he starts really, really fast. So that’s how we thought, maybe it’s a possibility to win. The plan worked.”
Doom tracked Warholm around the final turn and then shot out into the lane of high hopes, edging past Warholm just metres before the finish, smashing Watrin’s record to win in 45.25 to move to equal fourth on the European indoor all-time list.
“I knew I had an opportunity to take a medal but to win gold is something else,” he says. “And to win against Karsten – an Olympic champion – is amazing.”
Did he think a time like 45.2 was possible in Glasgow?
“No, definitely not,” he says. “I thought 45.6 or 45.7 was possible. But the track was really amazing, and the audience was really supportive.”
From a possible DNS to double world champion
His participation had been in doubt until the final moments. In the warm-up for the final, Doom felt a dreaded sense of deja vu when his calf tightened up. A year earlier, in Istanbul, he’d qualified for the 400m final but had to withdraw due to calf pain. Back then, he still toed the line for the relay, helping Belgium to gold, but there was a price to pay with Doom suffering “one and a half months of injury” as a result.
In Glasgow, he feared the same fate. “I thought not to race as I had a lot of pain,” he says.
It turned out to be the best race of his career. What’s more, his calf held up, with Doom returning the following night for the men’s 4x400m, anchoring Belgium to victory with a blazing 44.88-second split.
He employed the very same tactics as the 400m, sling-shotting out of the slipstream of USA’s Christopher Bailey and edging past metres before the finish.
“They said to me to not push during the first 350 metres, to stay relaxed and then when I had something left in the tank, to try to go for the last 50 metres. I got to the finish line a couple of steps before America – it was amazing.”
In the aftermath, one man was foremost in his mind.
“We were very motivated by everything that happened with Julien,” he says. “He asked us to run as fast as possible so that’s the thing we tried to do for him – the only thing we can do for him. He gives us inspiration, motivation. His fight is a lot harder than our fight, so I’m really happy we could take the victory for him.”
For Doom, the double gold was an arrival of sorts on a journey that began 20 years earlier – at the age of six – when he first took up athletics, joining his local club in Roeselare. His father was a keen marathon runner, a sub-2:50 athlete, and as a kid Doom would ride his bike alongside him on training runs.
Doom played football and handball in the years that followed but always came back to athletics. For the past five years, he’s been based in Ghent, where he’s coached by Philip Gilson, and Doom is a member of the Belgian army, availing of their flexible career options for top-level athletes. It requires him to complete a range of tasks throughout the year but also allows him the time off to go on training camps and commit to athletics.
After all, there’s more than one way to serve your country.
Having been hampered by hamstring injuries in recent years, the big difference for Doom in recent months has been his continued health. “It’s a big step forward when you can train without injuries,” he says. “That consistency gave me more energy. You’re feeling better with every training. That’s something different.”
Given the mixed 4x400m relay will be a straight final in Rome, Doom will likely take that in on the path to his big goal at the Europeans: an individual medal.
But at the Olympics in Paris, the priorities will be reversed. Doom was part of the men’s 4x400m team that finished fourth in Tokyo and he hopes to do everything possible to help them to a medal in Paris, even though he also hopes to also qualify for the individual final.
“I really want to do something great with the relay team,” he says. “We have the possibility to do that.”
Cathal Dennehy for European Athletics