Solomon smashes mark

STEVEN Solomon broke the under-18 400m Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships meet record late last month.

The record had stood since 1983, but 17-year-old Solomon bettered the mark by more than 0.5 seconds with a time of 46.44 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Solomon is one of the top 400m runners in the world for his age – and is within 0.48 seconds of the Australian Under-18 400m mark. His efforts were even more impressive because the Cranbrook School student only recently recovered from a hamstring injury.

Melbourne’s Jemima Montag easily won the under-14 three km race walk at the same event.

Montag, 12, broke the tape in a time of 14 minutes 49.56 seconds, more than 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Montag has already been touted as a future national representative and is coached by former national walk champion Simon Baker. Her next major event will be the national Little Athletics Championships to be held in February 2011.

AJN STAFF