How Good Is Steve Solomon

WHAT’S HIS STORY?

A late bloomer in the world of junior athletics, Solomon is only now starting to make an impact on the senior scene. After dabbling in the sport as a youngster, he committed himself to the track when his teenage body began to mature. “I thought I’d try the NSW All Schools. I went there to do the 400m hurdles and 400m,” he says. “And I won both. So it was kind of like, ‘Hang on, there´s something going on.’ That’s how it kicked off.”

There’s no denying that Solomon´s rise has been fast: he’s gone from a part-time schoolboy athlete to beating Australia’s best 400m runners in less than two years. Along the way he’s claimed Australia All-Schools titles, earned a place in the Australian 400m relay at the Daegu World Champs in August, and booked a berth for the Junior World Championships next year. To put it in perspective, Solomon is running the 400m at the same speed Usain Bolt did at his age. Months after that breakthrough win at Olympic Park, Solomon is still pinching himself. “I went into the competition with excellent form, and an ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’ mentality,” he says. “It was absolutely surreal, winning ... I couldn´t quite get my head around it for a few days.”

WHO’S HE LIKE?

A lot of the credit for Solomon´s emergence must go to Ukrainian coaching guru Fira Dvoskina. Athletics Australia’s 2011 junior coach of the year, Dvoskina has been in the sport for more than 50 years and has worked with the likes of Matt Shirvington and Daniel Batman. In just a year and a half under Dvoskina’s tutelage, Solomon has blossomed, continually smashing his own personal best times. “I can’t put into words the impact Fira has had ... The way Fira is so supremely educated with all this knowledge, not only on the 400m but the hurdles and the sprints and the plyometrics and everything,” he says. “The way she’s passed on her knowledge and such has really been a fundamental reason for my successes so far.” And it’s clear Dvoskina is proud of her charge. “When Steven came I could see he is really talented, and he hasn’t trained for a long time,” she says.

Polite, dedicated, confident, a high achiever and highly intelligent, Solomon certainly strays from the sporting norm. The son of an orthopedic surgeon, he is planning on becoming a doctor himself, and this year combined training with studying for the HSC at Sydney’s Cranbrook School. But athletics remains his ultimate goal. “Becoming a professional athlete when I finish school is definitely my plan,” Solomon says. The 400m is his pet event at the moment, but he may add the 400m hurdles to his arsenal as he continues to develop.

Solomon grew up idolising the feats of Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics and the poise of Jeremy Warner. Like them,

he thrives on pressure; he isn’t fazed by facing famous rivals on the track. He ran in Melbourne after a dare from friends and

blew away the competition. At the Daegu World Championships he ran a superb 45.40 in the third leg of the 4x400 heat (the Australian team missed the final). Now he’s upbeat about his chances of cementing a place in the squad for London. “Before this season the Olympics were a dream,” he says. “But after this it really is within my grasp. What started off as a dream is starting to look more and more like a reality.”

‒ John Davidson

WHAT DO THEY SAY?