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The 400m at the Melbourne Track Classic was hot, teen prodigy Steven Solomon storming home to grab 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sean Wroe on the line to record the most notable win of his developing career.

 

In Sydney on March 19 though, one-lap racing will be even hotter with the addition of American triple Olympic gold medallist Angelo Taylor to the start list at the fourth leg of the Australian Athletics Tour.

 

The descriptor “jack of all trades” is usually followed by the let-down of “master of none”. It hardly applies to Taylor, one of the best combination 400m and 400m hurdlers of all-time.

 

Statistically, his 47.25 in the hurdles makes him the ninth-fastest man in history, while his 44.05 over the flat journey has him tenth on the all-time list.

 

Turning to the ‘honours won’ department, Taylor’s curriculum vitae is equally imposing. Olympic gold medallist in the 400m hurdles in Sydney in 2000 and again in Beijing, where he ran his personal best of 47.25. He is one of only three men – the legendary Edwin Moses (USA) and Glenn Davis (USA) the others – to have won the event twice.

 

Taylor also ran the second leg on the USA 4x400m relay which took the gold medal in Beijing in Olympic record time. Australia finished sixth in that final with Wroe, one of Taylor’s confirmed opponents for Sydney, running the first leg.

 

Taylor is also a bronze medallist in the individual 400m from the 2007 Osaka world championships, so he represents a formidable obstacle for Australia’s top men.

 

The 32-year-old American hails from Decatur, Georgia and attended Georgia Tech University.

 

He must have a soft spot for Sydney – he took the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1996 world junior championships and then won his first Olympic title there four years later at just 21 years of age.

 

Also set to run the 200m, Taylor will ensure Australia’s best short sprinters have their work cut out for them too.

 

L

isted at 15^th on the 2010 IAAF Top Lists for the event, Taylor clocked a season best 20.23 (w: +0.6) at the Rieti (ITA) instalment of the IAAF World Challenge last year. Improving his personal best in the process, Taylor’s performance confirmed his ranking within the top 20 internationally for three events (200m, 400m, 400m hurdles) in the same year.

 

Solomon, who does not turn 18 until May 16, has been one of the revelations of the Australian Athletics Tour. He won the under 18 title at the Australian All School Championships in Melbourne last December in 46.44, a then personal best, until his upset win in 46.12 in Melbourne.

 

Solomon continues a long list of NSW one-lappers to show outstanding potential at a young age. Foremost among them would be Darren Clark, who ran 45.05 to win the English Amateur Athletics Association’s championship just over a month short of his 18^th birthday in 1983, and led the Olympic final into the straight less than a year later in Los Angeles.

 

Miles Murphy won the world junior championship in 1986, Steve Perry was a silver medallist two years later and Paul Greene went to a world indoor and world outdoor championships at the age of 19.

 

Solomon may have snuck under Wroe’s guard in Melbourne. The Commonwealth silver medallist looked to have the race won and may have been paying more attention to national champion Ben Offereins in the middle of the field than to Solomon flying home on the inside. If so, he has been warned.

 

Offereins also has something to prove. He returned to the track with a vengeance across the 2010 Australian domestic season, running a personal best 44.86 at the Sydney Track Classic last year and then winning the national title in Perth.

 

A five-stop national tour, the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour boasts four divisions (sprints/hurdles, distance, throws, distance) with male and female athletes in different events pitted against each other in the race for the largest prize purse in Australian athletics history.

 

The Sydney Track Classic is the last leg of the tour before the Tour Final in Perth, with domestic athletes on the hunt for strong point scores lining up alongside a bounty of international talent that includes 800m world record holder David Rudisha (KEN), America’s number one discus thrower inBecky Briesch and Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop (KEN).

 

2011 Australian Athletics Tour

 

Round 4: Sydney Track Classic – Saturday March 19, 2011
Go for 2&5 Australian Athletics Tour Final Perth: Thursday March 31 – Friday April 1, 2011

 

Sydney Track Classic

 

Sydney Olympic Park
6:00pm - Saturday, March 19 2011

 

Tickets are now on sale via the event website – www.sydneytrackclassic.com

 

In a first for Australian athletics, the Sydney Track Classic and upcoming Go for 2&5 Australian Athletics Tour Final in Perth will be streamed live on www.wcsn.com.au

 

With thanks to Len Johnson

 

ENDS

Returning from Canada, I arrived straight into the heart of the school athletic season. Fira decided that although ideally she’d prefer for me to have one or two weeks off, we would use the school season to build speed. Hence I never participated in a 400m until CAS.

CAS night was only one night away, but I had one more race before. The Athletic All Stars Meet. The meet was absolutely wonderful. The vibrant energy in which all the athletes and supporters shared raised the ante to a new level. The presence of the fastest person that ever lived Usain Bolt inspired myself to run harder and faster then I had in the past. In the end, I ran a 47.11 my second best time ever.

CAS was a big night. Competing in eight events after a 400m run the night before was straining on the body. At CAS, having done seven events before the 400m, I was not surprised when I lined up on the blocks and was not quite sure what I was doing. Luckily, the line was only 49.2 seconds away.

October

Next competition… NSW All Schools. Training had been going well. I started to hurdle again as my endeavour to Canada deprived me of time to hurdle. Everything was going well until one sudden hurdle, which aggravated my left hamstring (lead leg). At first, it merely occurred to me that I had done any damage and that the pain was just from starting to go through the motions again. An MRI two weeks later revealed the worst, showing a seven-centimetre tear down my left hamstring. I was lucky in the way that the tear was not near a tendon, but never alas I could not ignore it, despite not feeling to much pain when running.



Due to this, I was hesitant to run at all schools. In the end, after consulting with many important people including specialists such as my father Dr. Michael Solomon as well as my coach, I decided to run the 400m. Not wanting to ‘over stride’ and place any extra pressure on the hamstring, I ran with caution, going through 200m in 24.0. Feeling pain free, I turned up the engine and came home in around 23.6 to finish in a time of 47.68.

Upon seeing specialists, I was instructed not more hurdling for the time being nor intense exercise. I began and eight-week program back to full strength, which included much strengthening work of the hammy’s and gluts. Training was still very productive and I found myself building a stronger base, which was drawing weak. My endurance was improving, as was my strength.

November/ December

It was finally time to test my hamstring at full speed. One week before Australian All Schools, I ran a time trial in training. During the race, I felt stronger then ever and as important to this, I was pain free. The next day a second MRI revealed the tear had almost completely healed. Knowing this, I was excited and knew that I was in great shape to run fast in Melbourne.

Australian All Schools

Warming up for the heats felt great. My body felt strong and I felt fast. Not wanting to burn to more excess energy, I ran the heats fairly conservatively crossing the line in 49.5. After a long warm down and a great stretch, I sourced some lunch with my family and fellow training partner and coach for the weekend James Roff.

Warming up for the final, I knew that I was in a great position to run a PB. The track was hot, I felt great and knew it was to be a fast race. My legs were a little heavier then they were in the morning but that was to be expected. As the race started I felt brilliant. My race plan went perfectly and my transitions were the most effective they had ever been. I felt so much stronger then I ever had before in my contact with the track. Coming down the last hundred, I knew I was in good shape and grit my teeth as I headed for the finish line.
Crossing the line, I knew I’d see a good time on the board, but to see 46.47… I was overwhelmed. Then to hear the official time of 46.44…wow. I cant describe the feeling. Although I think the best way to describe it to those who know the pain of lactic acid…that my pain was drowned in happiness.

 

I hope you enjoyed my first blogs and hope you continue to follow my progress.

Cheers

Go to PART 1

 

3000m - RBK Boston Indoor Track 3000m

 

Mile -99 NCAA Indoors