Duane Renard Solomon (born December 28, 1984) is a retired
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Olympic
track
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
athlete, primarily known for racing the
800 meters
The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...
. He ran for his home country in the
IAAF World Championships in 2007 and 2013 as well as in the
2012 Olympic Games. He also took the
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
at the
North American, Central American and Caribbean Under 23 Championships in 2006.
Prep
In high school Solomon was the 2003
CIF California State Champion in the 800 m with a time of 1:49.79, while running for
Cabrillo High School (Lompoc, California)
Cabrillo High School is a California Distinguished School that serves students of Vandenberg Village, the city of Lompoc, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, on the California Central Coast.
History
The school was founded in ...
under the training of high school coach Peter Anderson. He was named the "2002-03 Gatorade Boys Athlete of the Year."
[http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/TrackAndFieldArchive/2008/Solomon_Duane.asp USATF bio]
USC
Solomon ran for the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, coached by legend
László Tábori
László Tábori (July 6, 1931 – May 23, 2018) was a Hungarian middle- and long-distance runner, best known for equalling the 1500 metres world record and placing 4th in that event at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Early career and rise to fame
...
. He set his previous Personal Record of 1:45.69 while finishing 3rd at the 2007
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...
. He narrowly missed improving that time running 1:45.71, while finishing 3rd at the 2008
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Championships. A few weeks later he ran a 1:45.78, while finishing 6th at the
United States Olympic Trials (track and field).
Following USC, Solomon came under the coaching tutelage of American record holder
Johnny Gray
John Lee Gray Jr. (born June 19, 1960) is a retired American world class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time-Olympian (1984-1996) in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a ...
.
2010
In 2010, he made his third international team by finishing second in the
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships
The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...
.
2012
On June 25, 2012, Solomon qualified for the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
by finishing third at the
2012 United States Olympic Trials. Going into the race, Solomon had not achieved the
A Standard necessary to go to the Olympics. Solomon followed
Charles Jock
Charles Jock (born 23 November 1989) is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 meter discipline. He ran collegiately at UC Irvine. He is currently the NACAC U23 record holder for the 800 meter race. Jock represented the Uni ...
in a first lap under 50 seconds. As Jock faded, Solomon charged into the lead, opening up almost 10 meters on the field. Notable kicker
Nicholas Symmonds
Nicholas Boone Symmonds (born December 30, 1983) is an American YouTube personality and retired middle-distance track athlete, from Boise, Idaho, who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 meters distances. Symmonds signed with Brooks Running in ...
and veteran
Khadevis Robinson
Khadevis Robinson (born July 19, 1976 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American retired middle-distance runner and currently coaches both the men's and women's cross country teams along with being an assistant track coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes. ...
(normally a front runner) chased down Solomon, but he held on for third place, .01 behind Robinson. In addition, his time of 1:44.65 surpassed the Olympic A standard, earning him a spot on the US Olympic team for the London games.
In the lead up to the Olympics, Solomon improved his personal best by over a second to 1:43.44 at the
Herculis meet in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
. While he finished third in the race, he became the fifth fastest in the world to that point in 2012, beating favorites like Symmonds and
Abubaker Kaki
Abubaker Kaki Khamis (; born 21 June 1989) is a Sudanese runner who specializes in the 800 metres. He is a two-time World Indoor Champion over the distance and also won gold at the 2007 All-Africa Games. He represented Sudan at the 2008 and 201 ...
.
In the
2012 Olympics, he finished fourth behind
David Rudisha
David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. He is a two-time back-to-back Olympic champion from the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, a two-time World champion from t ...
's world record. In doing so, he again improved his personal best to 1:42.82, which ranked him #28 on the all-time world list, and #2 on the all-time American list at the time.
2013
In January 2013, Duane Solomon set the American 600 m indoor record with his 1:15.70 win at the Glasgow International Match.
Solomon won the
2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1:43.27 to qualify for the
Moscow World Championships.
Duane qualified to the final of the 14th IAAF World Championships, where he finished 6th in 1:44.42 at
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
2014
Solomon won the
2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1:44.30.
Solomon was the anchor leg of the 4x800m IAAF World relays for the U.S.A. In 2014 which they placed 3rd The time was about 7:08.8
2015
Prior to the
2015 National Championships, Solomon announced he would take the race out at world record pace to 600m. Coach Gray refers to that as the "Twilight Zone" but others have personalized it to call it the "Gray Zone." Just as when Gray ran, it can have spectacular or devastating results. This time it failed, a depleted Solomon gave up after being passed by the first three. He walked home in 3:08.74 after
[http://pro.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=88&do=videos&video_id=150661] almost passing out.
Achievements
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Duane
1984 births
Living people
University of Southern California alumni
American male middle-distance runners
People from Lompoc, California
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
USC Trojans men's track and field athletes
Track and field athletes from California
World Athletics indoor record holders (relay)
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners