Commonwealth Games 2022: Rohan Browning finishes sixth in 100m final

After a stunning heat and a promising semi-final Rohan Browning ran sixth in the race that mattered most. And he concedes there’s one area he needs to fix.

Ugly and painful is how Rohan Browning has described running sixth in his first Commonwealth Games 100m final.

After a stunning heat win 24 hours earlier and a promising semi-final performance, Australia’s Flying Mullet didn’t have the legs to go for it in the race that mattered.

Browning knew he’d lost a medal chance after 20 metres when he was slow out of the blocks and from there it was a bridge too far.

He clocked 10.20sec with the gold medal going to Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala in 10.02sec from defending champion South Africa’s Akani Simbine (10.13sec). Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon took bronze in 10.14sec.

“I’m not happy with it,” Browning said.

Rohan Browning didn’t have the legs to go for it in the race that mattered. Picture: David Ramos/Getty Images

“It was just an ugly, painful kind of race and it’s one of those tough nights.

“A month ago there’s no way I saw myself in this final. I try to take each win and race in my stride but once you’re here you just want to be on that podium. That’s what it’s all about.”

Browning ran 10.10sec in Tuesday’s heats and then finished second to Simbine in 10.17sec in the semi-final.

“The semi was not bad. I walked away from the semi and I knew where I had to pick up,” he said.

“It was at that 20-metre mark, we’re trying to work on that but it’s still a work in progress.”

He almost wasn’t in Birmingham after considering packing his bags and heading home after last month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon where he bombed out in the first round running 10.22sec.

“I thought about packing it in after the worlds and just getting back home and getting some training for next year,” he said.

“I’m glad I decided to persist, one of the lessons I have learnt this year is that persistence is just so much more important than patience, you just have to keep trying things and keep at it and eventually the tide will turn.

“Today there are a few things I could have done better to be up there but I need a bit more training in my legs and need a big off-season.”

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Browning ran 10.10sec in Tuesday’s heats. Picture: David Ramos/Getty Images

Browning, 24, has had an interrupted season through illness and injury which he believes didn’t have him ready to do three races in two days at a major championships.

“To be honest I haven’t had much experience racing through three rounds, we do it at Australian trials but I didn’t do them this year as I was injured,” he said.

“I haven’t got that much running in my legs and I think the three rounds is maybe something that challenged me.

“But that’s the nature of the sport, you want to be in finals and you want to be in peak shape for the final, that is something to work on.”

He will now turn his attention to Australia’s 4x100m relay team before deciding to continue racing in Europe or call an end to his season.

Australia’s best result of recent times at a Commonwealth Games in the blue riband event is a fourth place by Matt Shirvington back in 1998 when he set an Australian record of 10.03sec.

The last finalist for Australia was Aaron Rouge-Serret who ran 10.30sec to finish fifth at the 2010 Delhi Games.

Browning set his career best of 10.01sec in the opening heat of last year’s Tokyo Olympics before clocking a commendable fifth in the semi-final in 10.09sec.

He became a household name and immediately the attention turned to breaking the magical 10-second barrier which only one Australian, Patrick Johnson, has done previously.

But that will have to wait longer with Browning still very much a work in progress.

STARC SO CLOSE TO GAMES GOLD

By Joe Barton

With searing pain shooting up through his heel on every jump attempt, Brandon Starc could’ve let his Commonwealth Games gold medal defence go out with a whimper.

Instead, he went within a whisker of back-to-back gold – ultimately collecting silver while losing out to New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr on countback.

Starc has been battling a bruised heel, which forced him out of the World Championships in the USA last month, and from his second jump – a failed attempt at 2.15m – the pain returned with a vengeance.

It led to a rollercoaster evening for the 2018 champion – who fluctuated wildly between his brilliant best and some mystifyingly bad attempts.

“That was probably the toughest comp I’ve ever had,” Starc said.

Brandon Starc competes in the men’s high jump final.

Between jumps Starc would remove his shoes, retape his foot or just sit in silence on the cool Birmingham evening away from his rivals.

Anything to take his mind off the pain.

“But really I just had to grit my teeth and jump through it,” he said.

“I don’t know if it was family, or I wanted something really bad – I just jumped through it and somehow I got a medal.

“I could’ve either rolled over and gave up or pushed through and try to do something. And a silver medal… it’s pretty good.”

Something triggered inside Starc after he lay flat on his back following an ugly first attempt at 2.22m.

Was it frustration? Or the pain?

“A bit of both. It was quite painful pretty much every jump. But I tried not to show too much,” he said.

Australia's Brandon Starc celebrates after winning a silver medal. Picture: Ben Stansall / AFP

The 28-year-old comfortably cleared his next two jumps to rocket into medal contention as rivals fell by the wayside.

But the 2.28 mark proved too much for both Starc and Kerr, with the Australian’s earlier misses coming back to haunt him.

Starc celebrated the silver medal by taking son Oliver around Alexander Arena for a special lap of honour – a moment made even more special by the presence of wife Laura and mum Julie in the crowd.

“He’s such a good baby, he did the whole lap - it’s 9.30pm and he’s still going,” Starc said.

“They’ve come all the way to Birmingham to support me and watch me. It’s pretty special to do that.”

O’HANLON BRINGS UP DOUBLE TON FOR AUSTRALIA

by Simeon Thomas-Wilson

Evan O’Hanlon has successfully defended his T37/T38 100m crown at the Commonwealth Games.

Two-years after a Lisfranc fracture in his foot had doctors saying his career was over O’Hanlon added to his legacy as he took out the title of 11.23 seconds.

It also 200th gold medal for the athletics team at the Commonwealth Games.

“To be able to come back, I had two operations on my foot to get it right and to come back and run anything good is really nice,” he said.

Evan O’Hanlon after winning gold int he T37/38. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

It was a Commonwealth Games record and gave the 34-year-old from NSW another gold medal after success at the Gold Coast four-years-ago.

South Africa’s Charl du Toit was second in 11.54 seconds.

Now in the Czech Republic to try and continue his career, O’Hanlon said he thought he could build on his stunning Paralympic record at Paris in two-years time.

But O’Hanlon, who had a crack at bobsleigh last year, said it was tough trying to continue his career in Europe.

“In winter I can’t get into the indoor track so I’m doing it at minus eight degrees outside and shovelling the snow off,” he said.

Originally published as Commonwealth Games 2022: Rohan Browning finishes sixth in 100m final