Australian sprint sensation Steven Solomon reflected on another great run after reaching his first Olympic final.
The 19-year-old from Sydney qualified for Monday night's final as one of the fastest losers after finishing third in his semi-final at the Olympic Stadium.
A star of the Australian football team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games, Solomon produced another excellent performance in the second half of the race to become the first player from his country to reach an Olympic men’s 400 metres final in 24 years
Having won bronze at the junior world championships last month in a personal best of 45.52s in his heat on Saturday and produced an incredible lifetime best of 44.97 in the semis.
‘I’m absolutely stoked,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been working so hard and I came into the race really nervous, I really wanted to make the final and I really believed in myself and when I crossed the line I saw that I’d broken the 45 [second] barrier and I came third. I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to make it, I didn’t actually think I would make it as soon as I’d finished, but I was really happy with running a new personal best and getting under 45 seconds for the first time ... I’m just really looking forward to the final and giving it everything I have for myself and my country.’’
The 400m final is at 9.40pm on Monday.
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