Athletics news: Rohan Browning set to train with 100m Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs

Sprinting sensation Rohan Browning has made a huge move in his quest to break the 10-second barrier. Find out what the flying Aussie is up to next.

Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning is moving overseas to train with Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs as he ramps up his bid to break the magical 10-second barrier.

In a major coup for the Sydney university student, Browning will travel to Italy next month to work alongside the fastest man on the planet who shocked the athletics world when he became Usain Bolt’s successor in the blue-riband event in Tokyo.

The pair now share the same agent, Italian Marcello Magnani, while Browning’s coach Andrew Murphy also has a relationship with Jacobs’ mentor, Paolo Camossi, as they competed against each other in the triple jump.

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Browning is making his long-awaited return to the track on Sunday in Tokyo, returning to the Olympic stadium where he announced himself to the world by winning his 100m heat.

He will then fly back to Australia for three weeks before leaving for Europe where he will base himself at Jacobs’ Rome training base.

Murphy said after Browning joined Magnani last year the prospect of working with the Olympic champion in the lead-up to this year’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon, was raised.

Rhoan Browning is intent on breaking the 10sec barrier.

“We were asked if we’d be interested and of course we said yes and that’s how it all started,” Murphy said. “We’re really looking forward to going over to Rome, basing ourselves there and getting some sessions in with Marcell.”

There were many raised eyebrows when Jacobs won the Olympic title with many labelling it a “fluke” given he was better known as a long-jumper but the Italian showed he was the real deal by winning the world indoor championships in March.

Murphy said Jacobs’ success came off the back of perfecting his technique which he believes is the secret for unlocking Browning, who set a personal best of 10.01sec on his Olympic debut.

“I think it is really exciting working with Marcell as he was a guy who was a long-jumper, he was really not on the map in terms of sprinting and he has worked really hard,” Murphy said.

“Obviously he trained well but also when you look at him his mechanics are brilliant, arguably one of the best mechanics in sprinting at the moment.

“That’s a really big win for us in terms of telling Rohan, who is a really smart guy, look, we just have to keep working on our mechanics because you can get there.”

Rohan Browning will start training with the Olympic champion.

Murphy said he would raise the possibility of returning the favour and have Jacobs come out to Australia for a training block in the future.

Camossi and Murphy duelled several times at major championships with the Italian winning gold at the world indoor championships in Lisbon in 2001 where Murphy came third. Two years earlier the Australian did finish ahead of him at the 1999 world championships when he came fourth.

“It’s kind of funny that two ex-triple-jumpers are coaching these world-class sprinters,” Murphy said. “He (Camossi) is actually really excited to catch up and do some stuff together.”

Browning has only raced once this season – he ran 10.12 in Adelaide in February – because of niggling injuries and sickness with Murphy cautious about what to expect in Tokyo.

“I’m not as confident as I would have liked if we’d had a perfectly clean run but he ticked a lot of boxes before he got on the plane,” he said.

“He is a great competitor and he is certainly more than capable of producing some good times over there.”

National 100m champion Jake Doran is also in the field with US world champion Christian Coleman, who is back from an 18-month ban for missing three drug tests, the headline act.