London calling

STEVEN Solomon and the Australian 4x400m relay team are almost guaranteed a berth at the London Olympics, climbing to 10th position in the world rankings after a stellar showing at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Challenge in Daegu, South Korea.

Solomon, who celebrated his 19th birthday on the day of the race, was the star performer for the Aussie foursome, running the first leg of the race in an unofficial time of 44.8 seconds.

His run was well within qualifying time for the individual event at the Olympics and the team’s 3:01.58 put them right in the mix to compete in London in just over two months time, with the top 16 teams in the world winning a berth.

“That was awesome, the race couldn’t have gone better,” Solomon said.

“My own 400m was as solid as I wanted it to be and from what I could see of the other boys’ runs, we were strong across the board.”

Australia finished second behind Japan at the Daegu event, placing them in the top 16 rankings for the first time this year and moving them one step closer to competing on the grandest stage of all.

But with the African and European championships still to come, Australia could still be pushed out of the top 16.

Solomon was ecstatic that he and teammates Ben Offereins, Brendan Cole and Tristan Thomas could ­produce such a quick time.
“We knew what we had to do here,” Solomon said. “To come away with a result that essentially sets us up the best we can for London is great, [and] it certainly makes for a great birthday.”

Solomon is still hoping to qualify for the individual 400m event, requiring a time of 45.3 seconds. His personal-best national championship run of 45.54 seconds has given him great confidence since the event in April.

The young star sprinter still has two more opportunities to crack the qualifying time.

ASHLEY SHENKER
With Agencies