Solomon through to final
Three days of tough competition has seen 19-yr-old Sydneysider Steven Solomon run his way into the final of the 400m Junior World championship to be run tomorrow morning in Barcelona at 5 a.m. Sydney time.
This report following day one from Athletics Australia’s Cody Lynch…
Steven Solomon takes off photo: Henry Benjamin
Competition at the IAAF world junior championships has continued into the warm evening in Barcelona (ESP), with ideal conditions seeing Steven Solomon (NSW, 400m), Jarryd Buchan (Vic, 400m), Carla Williams (Qld, 400m), and Ashleigh Whittaker (Vic) advancing to semi-finals on the track.
Solomon, who will compete alongside his Australian Flame 4x400m relay teammates at the 2012 Olympic Games, burst out of the blocks from lane five in heat seven and was rarely challenged.
Cruising down the back straight, the two-time national open-age 400m champion stepped it up on the run home to cross in 46.16 ahead of local favourite Julio Arenas (ESP, second, 46.42) and Jose Melendez (VEN, third, 46.45).
Solomon said: “I couldn’t be happier with that run, I executed exactly what my coach Fira (Dvoskina) and I planned to and came into the home straight with a bit left in the tank to make sure that I got the top-two finish.
“This is step one in a pretty long process, I now need to recover ten percent better than everyone else, eat the right foods and get as much rest as I can to make sure I get through each of the three rounds as strong as possible.
“I could not ask for a better warm-up to the Olympic Games, I am facing off with some of the fastest men in the world three times here and preparation doesn’t come better than that. I can’t wait for the London experience to roll around but first I want to deliver for the team here.”
Solomon was joined in the boy’s 400m by Under 19 Talent Squad athlete Jarryd Buchan (Vic).
Competing from the outside lane, the IAAF world youth championships representative Buchan clocked 47.04 to finish second behind Alphas Kishoyian (KEN, first, 46.22) and automatically advance to the semi-finals.
Solomon is ranked third of 24 qualified athletes for the semi-final, with Buchan 20th.
