Perth: The baton has not yet changed hands – Rohan Browning has not yet relinquished his place at the top of Australian sprinting, stunning Lachlan Kennedy in the men’s sprint final at the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth.
On a brilliant night of athletics, the men’s and women’s 100-metre sprint finals were each decided by thousandths of seconds. The 1500m was run slower than a park run for three quarters of the race, but then Jess Hull blew the field away. Teenager Cam Myers, barely 18, ran a commanding men’s 1500m.
Rohan Browning is still Australia’s sprint king – at least for now.Credit: Getty Images
Browning, the man whose efforts helped inspire this next generation of young sprinters, reasserted the pecking order on the track winning by just five thousandths of a second over Kennedy, with both running clocking 10.01s. But Browning won.
Reflecting the renaissance of Australian sprinting, and the golden period Australia has emerged into, the women’s 100m sprint just minutes earlier was even closer – needing a photo finish to split three runners at the line.
For several minutes Torrie Lewis, 17-year-old Leah O’Brien and Bree Rizzo stood at the line waiting to learn their fate. The photo finish confirmed Lewis had beaten O’Brien by an incredible four thousandths of a second – 11.236 to O’Brien’s 11.240. Rizzo ran 11.25s.
The gusty winds were legal for both races.
Browning, almost the forgotten man of athletics amid the fascination for the new generation of sprinters, joked that he is the “Dad” of Aussie sprinting. The 27-year-old Tokyo Olympic semi-finalist was clearly not ready to hand over the mantle of best sprinter just yet.
Browning equalled his personal best but cruelly was once more left achingly close to legally running under 10 seconds. He, like Gout Gout on Thursday night, has run a sub-10 time with a big illegal tailwind, but has been left short of the legal sub-10 time several times. Gout ran the under-20 100m on Thursday and did not run in the open-age 100m on Saturday. He will run the open-age 200m on Sunday. Seb Sultana, meanwhile, had a hamstring and pulled out of the 100m final.
“I’ve run that windy 9.96s, 10.01, 10.01, 10.05. I’m so close,” Browning said. “It just felt like Tokyo [Olympics] all over again. [It] felt really smooth.”
Battling a knee injury for two years, Browning admitted there were times he doubted if he could get back to his peak again, but since recovering from the knee the win in Perth was proof he was back.
“I think it [the national title] just makes it emphatic,” Browning said.
“I wanted to come out and remind these guys who their dad is. There’s a lot of short memories in this sport. I really couldn’t believe how many people [on social media] came out of the woodwork last year [to write me off].
“I mean, you know what? Nuffies are good for the sport, too. That’s my controversial opinion. You need engaged fans. You need people commenting on the sport and bringing their opinion. So I actually don’t take it too personally.”
Kennedy, who ran 10 seconds flat in the heats on Friday, was disappointed not to take the title.
“It was a good race, super close. He got me at the end … at the end of the day, you’ve gotta win the race [so] definitely disappointed. But I mean, Rohan ran a great race. I’m happy with the time.”
Kennedy, who beat schoolboy phenomenon Gout over 200 metres at the Maurie Plant Meet, is still hopeful, if not committed, to going head-to-head with Gout again on Sunday in the 200m in Perth. He is sore and will make a final decision on Sunday morning as to whether he runs.
‘I think it [the national title] just makes it emphatic.’
Rohan Browning on his return to the top of the sprint podium
Browning and Lachlan Kennedy after their stunning race.Credit: Getty Images
The women’s 100m was equally thrilling. Rizzo, the Paris 2024 semi-finalist stumbled at the line as she dipped so hard to try to claim the win. O’Brien, who only a week ago had broken Raelene Boyle’s under-age 200m record that had stood for 57 years, was shoulder to shoulder with Lewis. But it was the national record holder wh took the title.
“I’m so happy, because after Maurie [the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne a fortnight ago where she ran poorly] I just did not want to run. Like, this is going to be horrible. So I’m just really glad I was able to find something and get another 100 title,” Lewis said.
In one of the more bizarre races, the women in the 1500m spent nearly three laps jogging tortuously slowly. Hull bided her time until, with 450 metres to go, she pulled the trigger and backed her ability to sprint for longer than any of the others.
“It was [a] weird, very strange race,” the Paris 2024 silver medallist said.
“I didn’t think anyone else was going to go [and make the pace early in the race], so I thought just buckle up for the last 450.
“I think my speed is better than I think it is … I just backed myself to be the most composed amongst the tension in that pack, because it was so tense, like I could feel it out there. So, yeah, experience prevailed past that.
“I think when you go from [450m] you ask people questions of themselves. It’s a long way to sprint, over 400 metres.”
‘You know what? Nuffies are good for the sport, too. That’s my controversial opinion. You need engaged fans.’
Rohan Browning
Myers was cranky a year ago that he fluffed his race at the nationals, and it cost him a place in the team for the Paris Olympics. A year on, he dominated his 1500m final, won the title and most likely booked a place on the team for the world championships in Japan in September.
Emelia Reid is just 14 years old. She won the under-20 200m in Perth, defeating women – not girls like her – years older as she ran a personal-best 23.29s to claim the national title. Of Ukrainian and Nigerian parents, she moved to Australia when she was three years old, and living in Perth, she thought why not go to nationals and have a crack? It was worth the effort.
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