Australian athletics selectors 4x100m relay team dilemma at the Paris Olympics

Australian athletics selectors are facing one of the toughest calls for the team with the drama all the drama circling around one man.

Australia face a tough 4x100m call.

COMMENT

Australian selectors are facing a tough decision when it comes to deciding which men will make the cut for the 4x100m relay team.

The decision comes in the wake of Rohan Browning and Josh Azzopardi bowing out in round one of the individual 100m event.

Browning, the second fastest sprinter in Australian history, said he was “disappointed” and “wasn’t good enough, short story” after his showing in heat 6 as he crossed in 10.29.

The 26-year-old went up against a quality field which included Akani Sambine from South Africa the eventual winner in a time of 10.03.

It’s a far cry from Tokyo three years ago when he made the semi-finals after winning his heat in 10.01.

Despite missing out, what Browning has done to get back into this shape is incredible and something he should be proud of.

For Azzopardi he narrowly missed out on advancing after finishing fourth in heat 2 with a time of 10.20.

The 24-year-old said that “to be added in to the 100m late and to come fourth in my heat

against some massive names was pleasing”.

Browning couldn’t advance. Pic: Michael Klein

In the men’s 100m final, Noah Lyles won in dramatic style with a time of 9.79 seconds to win by a whisker from Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.

Now these times are not surprising in a 100m final, we’re used to seeing the likes of Usain Bolt thundering down the straight in world record times.

But it is a stark reminder to our Aussie contingent that if they want a chance of appearing in a sprint final, someone is going to have to start breaking the 10sec barrier just like our lone Aussie Patrick Johnson did way back in 2003.

Which brings us to the relay team and the reality that selectors are facing.

The obvious choices are Browning and Azzopardi being locks to make the final cut for the team.

Plain and simply because they ran the individual 100m event … but that’s not exactly how relays are chosen.

Yes of course you have to be fast but for Browning he doesn’t even make the list of the top 5 ranked Australian sprinters this year.

Azzopardi made his feelings known on the relay team. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Browning is the second fastest Aussie ever. Pic: Michael Klein

Despite that fact, it would be hard to count out his vast experience, which we saw when he lifted his game for the 100m final at the Australian championships to place fourth with Azzopardi in second.

18-year-old Sebastian Sultana ultimately won the final at the championships, but is the fourth ranked sprinter based on time. Confused already? Me too.

Browning was fortunate to have earned his spot in the individual event in Paris based on world rankings while Azzopardi was a late entrant into the event because of a withdrawal from another athlete.

In May, the men’s team qualified for the Olympics with a team that consisted of Sultana, Azzopardi, Jacob Despard and Calab Law. Browning missed out due to a knee injury that he has since overcome.

Azzopardi has made his thoughts clear that he wants to see the same team that qualified for Paris get the call up to compete on the famous purple track.

I don’t think he will get it all his way.

Azzopardi during his 100m heat. Pic: Michael Klein

Law couldn’t get it done in the 200m. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Browning and Azzopardi in my opinion have done enough to show that they are in shape with their 100m heat runs.

Their times are significantly faster than Law’s season best of 10.40, which he did back in April.

To be fair to Law he was competing in the 200m in Paris so his training in the lead up would have been slightly different to that of the 100m sprinters.

I previously said that the fastest men need to be picked and the only way to find out who is the fastest is to do a run off, now, I’m not sure if this was done leading up to these games or not but we do have two guys that are in form and have proven themselves to the selectors.

Rohan Browning said after his heat run that “you can’t let these results shake your self-belief”.

The men’s 4x100m relay rounds will commence on Thursday from 7:35pm (AEST).

Let’s hope that his self-belief continues and, hopefully I don’t jinx him, we get to see the famous Flying Mullet from the Tokyo Olympics fly again.

- Sally Pearson is an Olympic gold medallist and one of Australia’s greatest ever track and field athletes. She is writing exclusively with news.com.au ahead of the Paris Olympics