Matt Shirvington makes shock call about Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning

As Australia prepares to unleash Rohan Browning on the rest of the world, former Aussie sprint king Matt Shirvington has made a bold call.

Australia hasn’t had an Olympic finalist in the men’s 100m sprint since 1956, but Rohan Browning could be about to change all that.

The 23-year-old is the first man we’ve been able to cheer for in the blue riband event since Joshua Ross in 2004 and if all goes to plan, we’ll get more than one opportunity to watch him fly in Tokyo.

Browning became just the second Aussie after Patrick Johnson to break the 10-second barrier, albeit wind assisted, in January this year and his hot times have continued as he qualified for his first Olympics.

In an event traditionally dominated by North Americans and runners from the Caribbean, a personal best of 10.05 seconds — delivered on the night he booked his Australian team selection at the Queensland Track Classic in April — puts Browning in good shape to make a dent in the field in Japan when heats begin at 8.45pm on Saturday.

His PB would have seen him place eighth in the final in Rio and former Australian sprinter Matt Shirvington, who made the semi-finals of the 2000 Olympics, believes Browning has a genuine shot at being among the last eight competitors standing.

“I honestly think he’s more than capable of making the final at these Games,” Shirvington, who is hosting part of Channel 7’s Olympic coverage, told news.com.au. “We haven’t had a finalist since 1956 so that in itself would be a phenomenal thing for Australia.

“The reason I think he can do it is because he’s been running consistently around 10.0. This year alone he’s run 10.05, 10.08, 10.09 and I was looking back at London and Rio and to make the final, qualifying times were around 10.01, 10.02.”

Rohan Browning is ready to make a splash in Tokyo.

In a world without Usain Bolt, and reigning world championship Christian Coleman banned for missing drug tests, the stage is set for a new sprint king to sit on the throne.

Nobody’s suggesting Browning is about to be crowned the world’s fastest man – Shirvington doesn’t have him finishing on the podium – but there are two main reasons why the man synonymous with Australian sprinting has high hopes for the young gun.

“The journey Rohan has been on has been a tough road. He’s been there but not quite there,” Shirvington said.

“Going right back to the very beginning as a junior he finished second behind Jack Hale, when Jack Hale broke the under-18s national record and ran 10.13 and Rohan ran 10.18 behind that. He was kind of in his shadow.

“If Rohan would have run 10.18 with no Jack Hale he would have been the superstar coming through but it wasn’t to be.

“Then he goes to the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and he misses the final by barely a tenth of a second and again it wasn’t to be. Then coming into 2020 when the Games were meant to be on he was carrying an injury and he was probably going to miss out on his chance. I think that 12 months was a real wake-up call to get everything into place and he’s done that s beautifully.”

Can he go sub-10 in Japan?

If he races as well as his rig looks, Browning will be fine.

The second reason Shirvington has high hopes is because, when he looks at Browning gallop down the track, he sees someone with the perfect race.

Without getting too technical, sprinters talk about their starting acceleration off the blocks, their transition into a sprint after about 15-20m and then their endurance speed which, as Shirvington explains, is the ability to hold your top speed for as long as possible, all the way to the finish line.

Browning is nailing all those aspects as he heads into the biggest meet of his life, even when he has no one around to push him, as was the case in Cairns earlier this month when he fine-tuned preparations for Tokyo.

“Rohan has a really complete race at the moment,” Shirvington said. “His start acceleration is great, his transition is brilliant and his speed endurance, he just seems to be holding his speed really well to the line.

“Both races (in Cairns) he had no one around, no one to push him and he just ran really comfortably, really completely and I think that’s what you need going into a major championship. You need to be able to have a really complete race where you can rely on every section of the race to deliver.

“If you have a weakness it becomes difficult when you’re under pressure. That’s why I think he can make the final, that’s why I think he can definitely run a personal best. He can definitely go quicker than a 10.05, especially in good conditions in Tokyo.”

Rohan Browning
10.08 pic.twitter.com/jvE0MWoQeb

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Because of the pandemic, Browning made the decision to do all of his racing and training at home. There’s been no opportunity to go overseas and challenge himself against the rest of the world, which means he’ll arrive in Tokyo a largely unknown quantity.

But breaking the 10-second barrier at the start of the year means there will be a few runners who will recognise the face when they look across the lanes and see Browning preparing for lift-off.

“He’ll be a surprise packet for most, (but) he’ll be on the radar without a doubt,” Shirvington said.

“The main reason he’ll be on the radar is because he ran a wind-assisted 9.96 earlier in the year and that would have put him on the radar for the rest of the world. Although it wasn’t a legal time, a time that’s registered, anything like that in a pandemic year where people aren’t running under 10 week-in week-out, that would have put him on the radar.

“You’ll see him in his heat and I think you’ll get an understanding that he’ll be well positioned to progress through the rounds. I won’t be surprised if he wins his heat and runs well (in the semi-finals).”