‘He’ll be filthy’: Early slip-up ends Rohan Browning’s Olympic dream

Rohan Browning couldn’t repeat the dose after stunning the world in his first run at an Olympic Games, crashing out in the 100m semi-finals.

A slow star cost Rohan Browning in the 100m semi-final (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images).

Rohan Browning finished fifth in his semi-final of the men’s 100m in Tokyo.

It means he has not qualified for the final and his Olympics are over.

The top two finishers in each of the three semis automatically progressed to the final, while two quickest third-placed runners also qualified.

Browning was slow out of the blocks and while he made up a bit of ground in the back half of the race, it wasn’t enough. He crossed the line in 10.09 seconds, well down on the 10.01s he clocked in his heat on Saturday.

“It’s tough, I just never got out and then I had my work cut out for me,” Browning told Channel 7.

“I feel like I came back well through the end of the race but I left myself with too much work to do. It’s only 100m.

“Thanks everybody back home. I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done in the semi, but the next Olympics is only three years away.”

Channel 7 commentator Tamsyn Manou said Browning “will be devastated” while legendary commentator Bruce McAvaney added: “He needed a better start, I agree. He was playing catch-up all the way.

“I hope he is devastated for a second or two, because he will be, and then he will realise what he has achieved. It wasn’t quite what we wanted, but it was a great semi-final effort.”

Athletics expert David Culbert said: “Rohan Browning will be filthy as Tamsyn mentioned, which is a good thing.

“His first few steps weren’t quite as sharp as they could be. But he is in the mix. He is a young man that’s impressed us all.”

Close but no cigar. Picture: Alex Coppel. .

In the first heat American Fred Kerley and Canada’s Andre De Grasse qualified for the final by crossing the line in first and second respectively. Both men ran under 10 seconds.

In Browning’s heat, Zharnel Hughes was first in 9.98 seconds and Enoch Adegoke of Nigeria was second, while US star Trayvon Bromell was third.

Chinese star Bingtian Su won the third and final heat of the night, followed by Ronnie Baker of the US.

Bromell, who was the fastest qualifier at America’s Olympic trials, was lucky to advance to the semis after stumbling in his heat and he struggled again on Sunday, failing to make the final. It’s a huge blow for a man who was considered a gold medal favourite by some pundits.

The runners in this year’s field are aiming to fill the void left by Usain Bolt, who won the 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics in Beijing, London and Rio. His retirement is finally giving someone else to stand on top spot of the podium.

Tonight’s 100m final is at 10.50pm AEST.

He couldn’t replicate his heat heroics.

Browning pulled out an astonishing run to win his heat on Saturday – smashing his personal best by 0.04 seconds – to clock a time of 10.01s.

There wasn’t a hair out of place as the eloquent 23-year-old with boy-band good looks zoomed past a field that included former world champion Yohan Blake, who’s won gold medals alongside Bolt as part of Jamaica’s relay team.

After his first run of the Games Browning was confident he could get even better. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

Men’s 100m final field

Fred Kerley

Andre De Grasse

Zharnel Hughes

Enoch Adegoke

Bingtian Su

Ronnie Baker

Marcell Lamont Jacobs

Akani Simbine

Originally published as ‘He’ll be filthy’: Early slip-up ends Rohan Browning’s Olympic dream