Soccer star aims to become king of the track
YOUNG footballer Steve Solomon, who switched his focus to athletics, has come to the attention of the Australian Institute of Sport.
DAVID WEINER
SIX months ago, Steve Solomon was the lightning-quick skipper of Australia’s junior Maccabiah football side, who did a bit of sprinting on the side at school.
Now, after blitzing all before him in the state and national school athletic championships, the 16-year-old has been scouted by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
He will train in Canberra during his school break, before spending the year in Athletics Australia’s under-19 talent squad in Sydney.
Having been hand-picked by the sport’s roof body, Solomon now has his eyes firmly on the track, and aims “to represent my country, hopefully at the Rio Olympics”.
The meteoric shift from soccer enthusiast to Olympic sprint aspirant comes on the back of a phenomenal athletics season.
Representing the Cranbrook School, Solomon won the long jump and broke the Combined Associated Schools’ (CAS) longstanding 200-metre record, while also setting a new best in the 400-metre event.
He began turning heads when he went to the NSW State Championships and broke the 400-metre hurdles record in his first attempt at the race, while also winning the 400-metre flat race.
He collected another booty of gold representing NSW at the Australian All Schools in Hobart, winning his pet 400-metre event in the under-17 division, while also collecting a win in the 4×400-metre relay. In just his third hurdles race, he was pipped on the line to claim silver.
Solomon will now enjoy the benefit of the AIS’ resources -— an exciting proposition given that he has hardly trained beyond his school’s seasonal athletics program and runs a personal best of 48.32 over 400 metres, and 53.70 in the 400-metre hurdles event.
“I’m completely open-minded to it and willing to give everything a go to see how far I can take it,” Solomon enthused.
“I’ve always been running, but this year everything has fallen into place … I was quietly confident, only because I knew I’d beaten the other competitors before, but was very surprised at the same time —- particularly with the hurdles. It was only my third hurdles race.”