Steven Solomon

Fast Facts

Sport: Athletics
Event: 400m
Olympic History: London 2012, Tokyo 2020
Highlights: Finalist in the 400m at London 2012
Year Born: 1993
State Born: NSW

About Steven

Three years after his first 400m race, Steven Solomon was in an Olympic final - the first Australian to achieve this for 24 years.

It was a meteoric rise for a late bloomer who when in primary school dreamed of being a Wallaby. But as he hit high school, his rugby teammates out-grew him, and he decided to focus on another sporting passion, soccer.

He was also doing athletics at Cranbrook High School, and in 2009 he was encouraged by his sports teacher to try the 400m. By the end of his first summer of athletics (March 2010) his PB was already down to 47.77, at just 16-years-old. He was selected for his international debut at the 2010 World Juniors in Canada where he ran on the 4x400m relay team. Another 12 months on, he was national junior and senior champion and his personal best was an incredible 45.58.

In September he made his senior Australian debut on the 2011 World Championships in the relay. The rise continued when in 2012 he won bronze at the World Junior Championships and a month later made the final of the 400m at the London Olympics. At 19, he was the youngest in the field in London and was now the second-fastest junior and eighth fastest senior Australian ever.

Over the ensuring six years he studied Pre-medicine, human biology and a master’s in management studies at Stanford and Duke Universities. On the athletics track he was a regular on the national team, although he suffered a number of injuries. There were glimpses of brilliance, making a world championships final with the relay and the 400m final at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He also maintained sub-45.5 form annually, including a spectacular national record of 45.44 indoors in 2018. 

Back in Australia for the last few years, he has settled into a consistent routine where he is also surrounded by his biggest supporters, his family. In March 2019 he won his sixth national 400m title, becoming the most successful in the history of the event. A member of the Penny Gillies squad, his terrific 2019/20 summer form produced his best-ever early season times.

Late summer he felt he was in PB shape, but days before the national championships COVID shut down the world. Steve was again in this type of form during the Australian summer of 2020/21, but he had a nigglingly back injury causing a stop-start to the season. After opening his season in December 2020, his next race would be the nationals where he placed second to good friend Alex Beck.

Solomon was selected for Tokyo, his second Olympics, nine years after his debut in London in 2012. 
In good form at the Olympics, Steve set a lifetime best of 44.94 seconds in his heat. In the semi-final he clocked 45.15 to place third, with just the first two progressing to the final.