SAMOA 2019: Following on from Tuesday’s 7 gold medals, Australia added another 11 golds to the tally on Day 9 of the 2019 Pacific Games, including 10 taekwondo gold and a men’s 400m gold from Steve Solomon.

London 2012 Olympian Solomon recorded a season’s best time of 45.62 to take out the 400m ahead of Papua New Guinea’s Daniel Baul (47.31) and Ben Aliel (47.62).

After a few injury-riddled months, the 26-year-old said it’s great to be back working towards his best.

“It was a rough start to the year for us with a couple of injuries, so all credit to [my coach] Penny for keeping me excited, motivated and for getting me through that darker time in sport when things aren’t going well,” Solomon said.

“It’s an awesome achievement to run a season’s best today, getting me back into the territory that I feel comfortable and excited to run.”

While the gold is a great accomplishment, Solomon said he’s thrilled to have helped his competitors achieve their personal goals and be a part of the Pacific Games spirit.

“I was really happy that I was able to bring Daniel and Ben, who came second and third today, to a life-time best performance,” he said.

“Getting to share that joy with them, they were very grateful and I was very grateful to be able to help out.

“One of the most beautiful parts of the Pacific Games is the comradery amongst the athletes. Never have I warmed up in a location where everyone around the crowd is saying ‘Go Steve’ with these big smiles on their faces.

“I think the community element of the Games really distinguishes it from other competitions and hand-in-hand with that, the spirit of seeing everyone compete with such patriotism and such joy, it’s definitely something I’ll treasure.”

Solomon’s teammate Ian Dewhurst hit the track earlier in the day in the men’s 400m hurdles heats. Dewhurst was the fastest qualifier for Friday’s final, clocking a time of 51.47.

Brianna Beahan is up on Thursday in the women’s 100m hurdles straight final.

Taekwondo
Australia’s taekwondo females were unstoppable at the Harvest Centre today, taking a clean sweep of all eight categories:

• Serena Stevens def. Tonga: 47-12 (-46kg)
• Tamzin Christoffel def. Fiji: 41-4 (-49kg)
• Yasmina Hibic def. Guam: 31-1 (-53kg)
• Carmen Marton def. Guam: 39-0 (-57kg)
• Rebecca Murray def. Samoa 37-2 (-62kg)
• Ruth Hock def. Solomon Islands: 32-5 (-67kg)
• Chelsea Hobday (-73kg) had no other competitor in her division and won the gold by default
• Reba Stewart def. New Zealand 32-11 (+73kg)

Male light weight fighters Mackenzie Singleton (-54kg) and Safwan Khalil (-58kg) also brought home the gold today. Dual Olympian Khalil defeated New Zeeland in the final 22-3.

The fight of the day went to Singleton and his opponent from Papua New Guinea, Bobby Willie.

Willie was in the lead for the majority of the fight, with Singleton down 10 points heading into the final 30-seconds, but the Aussie underdog fought his way back to a one-point victory.

“I was ten points down in the last 30 seconds, so I went for big head kicks which score three points, and body kicks which made up the majority of the points,” he said.

“I got to an even point and I decided the best way to get one point and get ahead in the final seconds was a big punch, and I landed it. I looked at the score board and the number flicked over and my heart just skipped a beat, I realised I had 0.5 seconds left and I had got it, I had won.”

The Samoa 2019 Pacific Games is Singleton’s first international event representing the green and gold.

“I’ve been doing taekwondo for about 12 years now and fighting for the majority of that, but I’ve never gotten this far before,” the 18-year-old said.

“My mum and dad came to watch my fight, it’s a dream for them to watch me on the mats. When I got out there, I turned away from the crowd and I pointed at the ‘AUS’ on the back of my top and I pointed to my mum to let her know, we made it.

“This experience has been utterly incredible, it’s everything I’ve ever imagined it would be. There’s an amazing team atmosphere, everyone treats each other with respect, and everyone cares for each other, it’s mateship.”

Australia has wrapped the Samoa 2019 taekwondo competition now in record breaking fashion - with all 15 athletes bringing home the gold.

However, there is no resting for the Pacific Games champions, with the Oceania Championships kicking off in the Harvest Centre tomorrow for the men, and Friday for the women, with even more athletes vying for the Oceania crown.

Sailing
The king of consistency Will Sargent sailed his way to another three 2nd place finishes today. Sargent has placed 2nd in all his races so far, leaving him in 3rd place overall as there are two fleets running simultaneously in this competition.

Mixed Hobie Cat partners Sarah Hoffman and Tom Dawson had two 4th place finishes and a 3rd today, which has bumped them up from 5th to 4th overall. With only six points separating the 3rd – 5th place teams, they are still very much in medal contention with two days left of racing.

olympics.com.au