Two-time national champion Steven Solomon (NSW) is determined to learn as much as he can from the best sprinters in the world at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Scheduled to start in the individual men’s 400m two years after surprising the athletics world by advancing to the one-lap final at the Olympic Games, the 21-year-old is determined to ensure that Glasgow 2014 presents yet another chance to perfect his craft in arguably one of the toughest events on the track.
“The Commonwealth Games presents another great opportunity to learn,” Solomon said.
“My event will welcome the very best sprinters in the world, and I am very excited about being able to represent my country alongside them. I have high hopes for the event, but we will have to wait and see how the day plays out before declaring how well I think I will go. I am certainly doing everything within my power to put my body in the best position for success, and hope to bring some smiles to the Australian public and make them proud.”
Solomon, who was born and raised in Sydney (NSW), won a bronze medal in the men’s 400m at the IAAF World Junior Championships before going on to his Olympic success later that same month in 2012. He has further open age competition experience at the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships in the men’s 4x400m relay and is currently competing regularly for the world-renowned Stanford University, where he is on scholarship studying human biology and pre-medicine.
“I am currently studying at Stanford in California and the university is the most incredible institution that I have ever seen,” Solomon said.
“Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine something quite like what I am experiencing over there, both athletically and with my education. I’m lucky enough to work with a great coach in Jody Stewart, get the chance to compete on the college circuit together with a great team of athletes and after completing my undergraduate degree I intend to pursue post-graduate medicine with eventual specialisation as a surgeon.”
To be joined by three of John Steffensen (NSW), Dylan Grant (Qld), Alex Beck (Qld) and Craig Burns (Qld), Solomon is always expected to compete in the men’s 4x400m relay here at Glasgow 2014, with the team keen to continue a winning tradition for Australia after the squad won gold at both the Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Steffensen is one of the most lauded Australian sprinters in history, with his international resume including an Olympic silver medal in the relay from Athens 2004, two gold medals (400m, 4x400m) at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin (GER).
Beck and Burns were both starters in the men’s 4x400m relay team at last year’s IAAF World Championships, where the squad made the final and placed 8th, while Grant is making his debut in the green and gold.
Solomon will be joined in the individual event by Morgan Mitchell (Vic) and Anneliese Rubie(NSW), with the duo both set to start in the women’s race.
Mitchell, who advanced to the semi-final in the one-lap race at the IAAF World Junior Championships, was the darling of the 92nd Australian Athletics Championships after she stormed home to win her maiden national crown and automatic selection to the Glasgow 2014 team in a personal best time of 52.22.
A starter in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu (KOR), Rubie will make her individual debut at these Commonwealth Games. A semi-finalist in the 400m at both the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships and last year’s Summer Universiade in Kazan (RUS), she has a lifetime best of 52.35 and will compete after podium finishes at both the Memorial Leon Buyle and Guldensporenmeeting, both in Belgium, earlier this month.
The duo have also been selected to the women’s 4x400m relay, where they will be considered for one of the four starting spots alongside Jess Gulli (Vic), Caitlin Sargent (Qld) and 400m hurdlers Lauren Wells (ACT) and Lyndsay Pekin (WA).
The 2014 Commonwealth Games commenced in Glasgow (SCO) with the Opening Ceremony last night, with athletics competition set to commence with the men’s and women’s marathon on Sunday 27 July. The competing Australian athletics team is 99-strong, the largest ever to compete in the green and gold offshore.
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