Duane Solomon's Exit Interview: Retires As Third-Fastest U.S. 800m Runner, Inside the London 2012 Final & The Next Gen of The Event

Duane Solomon joins the CITIUS MAG Podcast for an exit interview after announcing his retirement on June 20th with an Instagram post. He finished his career as the third-fastest American of all-time in the 800 meters with his 1:42.82 personal best at the 2012 Olympics in London.

In this episode, we'll go all the way to his high school career and how he managed to find the 800 meters as his specialty event. We'll look at how his "old school" approach to training started in college at USC and eventually landed him on his first U.S. national team in 2007 in Osaka. He opens up about issues with confidence at the college level and early into his professional career before he eventually erupted in 2012 under the guidance of Johny Gray (the former American record holder). Duane explains why it's the 2012 Olympic Trials and not the Olympic final that's the proudest moment of his career. From the warmup area to the call room to the track and off, Duane details his perspective of the London final and David Rudisha's perfect world record. We unpack the later years of his career like chasing the American in 2013/14, crashing and blacking out at the 2015 U.S. Championships, losing in the first round of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and the curious ending to the final three years of his career. Plus, how he feels he fits into the history of America's rise to the top of the 800 meters and Donavan Brazier's world record chances. All that and more...

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✩ Connect with Chris via Email: [email protected] | twitter.com/ChrisChavez | instagram.com/chris_j_chavez