Star torched for unforgivable blunder at Commonwealth Games

It was amateur hour at the Commonwealth Games track when a Jamaican star dropped his bundle right on the finish line.

Finish line in the mens 100m heat

Jamaican sprinter Nigel Ellis may never live it down.

Ellis was cruising toward a spot in the semi-finals of the 100m at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Wednesday when he committed the cardinal sin of pulling up before the finish line with misplaced arrogance that he had done enough to get through.

His pain was Aussie Jake Doran’s gain with Australia’s second-fastest man sneaking up on Ellis’ outside to finish second in the heat - booking a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals with a time of 10.39.

For Ellis, his hopes were gone in 0.02 seconds. Having been tipped on the line with a time of 10.41, he also missed out on securing passage through to the semis as one of the fastest qualifiers finishing outside the top two in the heats by just 0.04 seconds.

Ouch.

He became cannon-fodder for fans on social media with video of his mistake spreading across the internet.

Finish line in the mens 100m heat

Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning exploded through to the semi-finals, which will take place early on Thursday morning before the final is run at 6.30am (AEST).

Browning produced his best run of the year to send a message with a time of 10.10 in a spectacular turnaround from the World Championships in Oregon last month where he was unable to get out of the heats.

The cult hero, popularly referred to as ‘The Flying Mullet’, said he even has more power in the tank to go quicker in Birmingham.

Browning, who famously ran 10.01 to win his heat at the Tokyo Olympics last year, looks like he is the real deal once again.

His time sees him go through to the semi-finals as the equal-fourth fastest runner, but the fact that he did it while easing up at the back end says everything.

“He looked really confident there,” Aussie athletics great Tamsyn Manou said.

He was unstoppaBol. Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images.

“The gun went and he reacted well and he stayed relaxed through those middle phases. Even at the back end, he looked like he switched off a little bit and looked to his side and said ‘I’ve got this’.

Meanwhile, another of Australia’s track star’s Peter Bol embarrassed the rest of the field in the heats of the men’s 800m with an imperious run on Wednesday.

The Olympics finalist won his heat and was the fastest overall qualifier despite pulling up with 50m still to run.

Bol thanked his medical team after he “rolled” his ankle on Tuesday walking in the city.

“I want to give a shout out to my medical team,” he said.

“I was limping on the way back to the accommodation (on Tuesday), and now I’m running perfectly fine. It didn’t freak me out.”