London 400m hero Steve Solomon fails to notch Olympic qualifying time in last attempt

TWO tenths of a second has cost Steve Solomon in his final attempt to qualify for the Rio Games, while Australian 800m record holder Alex Rowe also failed to make the cut.

Steve Solomon made the 400m final in London.

TWO tenths of a second has cost Steve Solomon in his final attempt to qualify for next month’s Rio Games.

The London Olympic finalist clocked 45.60sec at a meet in Belgium just hours before the selection deadline but it was again just above the required 400m standard.

Australian 800m record holder Alex Rowe also failed to grab a last-minute qualifier at the meet in Oordegem.

The Australian Olympic Committee will announce the track and field team for Rio on Wednesday with the number of athletes set to exceed 60.

Solomon won’t be named but there is a slight outside chance he could be added if a spot becomes available in the 400m under the roll-down process used by track and field’s world governing body to ensure full fields at major championships.

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Steve Solomon made the 400m final in London.

His decline has been unexpected given he reached the 2012 Olympic final at the age of 19.

But the Sydney sprinter’s troubles started after the Olympic Games when he moved to Stanford University in the US to combine running with a medical degree.

He was plagued by injury problems there and was then forced to have hamstring surgery in 2014.

Solomon returned to live in Canberra this year and won the national title in April but in more than a dozen attempts since he has failed to run under the Olympic qualifying time of 45.40sec - the closest being a 45.44sec run in Townsville.

That time left him in 61st spot on the official rankings, with only 48 runners to contest the one-lap event in Rio.

The other two Australians understood to also be in contention for elevation from the roll-down procedure are steeplechaser James Nipperess and discus thrower Taryn Gollshewsky.

Alex Rowe failed to notch an Olympic qualifying time.

The men’s 800m is the most contentious selection event with three runners vying for two vacancies.

Sydney’s Joshua Ralph looms as the unlucky runner with Luke Mathews, Jeff Riseley and Peter Bol expected to the get the nomination.

Ballarat’s Collis Birmingham will also miss out after the third slot in the 5000m was decided in a head-to-head run-off in England over the weekend with Patrick Tiernan grabbing the final spot to join Brett Robinson and Sam McEntee.

Melissa Duncan is expected to withdraw because of injury on Wednesday, paving the way for Zoe Buckman to join Linden Hall and Jenny Blundell as the nominated 1500m runners.

Originally published as London 400m hero Steve Solomon fails to notch Olympic qualifying time in last attempt