Rowan Browning pips Lachlan Kennedy in 100m final at the Australian Athletics Championships

The “Benjamin Button” of Australia’s sprint resurgence Rohan Browning has claimed a third national 100m title, edging Lachlan Kennedy by just five one-thousandths of a second in a thriller.

WRITTEN off by many, Rohan Browning has shown he’s far from a spent force pulling off a stunning upset to win the national 100m title.

While all the focus had been on the new kid on the block, Lachlan Kennedy, the elder statesman of the sprinting ranks decided it was time he took back bragging rights by executing an equal career-best 10.01sec.

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Browning, Kennedy, 100m final

The final was worthy of the build-up with just five thousandths of a second between the pair. Kennedy was also timed at 10.01sec with Joshua Azzopardi third in 10.17sec.

And the women’s 100m final was even more exciting with Australian record holder Torrie Lewis winning by just four thousandths of a second in 11.24sec from 17-year-old Leah O’Brien (11.24sec) with Bree Rizzo, who fell shortly after the finish line, third (11.25sec).

Browning’s previous 10.01sec performance was in winning his heat at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The 27-year-old had been hampered by a knee injury for the past 12 months and did a lot of soul-searching after a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics.

Lachlan Kennedy, Jake Doran and Rohan Browning. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“It just felt like Tokyo all over again, it felt smooth,” Browning said. “I knew not to get sucked into running Lachie’s race because I knew he’s going to get out well.

“I just had to focus on myself and there might have only been a handful of people in the stadium tonight that believed that was possible. And you know, you only need to believe in yourself.

“I wanted to come out and remind these guys who their Dad is. There’s a lot of short memories in this sport and I really couldn’t believe how many people came out of the woodwork to knock me last year.”

Kennedy, 21, had edged ahead of Browning on the Australian all-time list on Friday, moving to No.2 when he clocked 10.00sec in the heats.

“It was a good race, super close but credit to Rohan he ran a great race, equalling his PB,” Kennedy said.

“I’m shattered I didn’t crack 10 but there will be plenty of opportunities to crack 10 down the line so I’m not too stressed about it.”

He said he will see how his body pulls up in the morning before making a decision on whether he faces Gout Gout in the men’s 200m.

Defending 100m champion Sebastian Sultana was a late scratching in the final after injuring his hamstring in the semifinals.

For Lewis, who now lives and trains in the Netherlands, the victory was a huge sigh of relief after she’d run poorly at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne two weeks ago.

Wow. WOW.

What an extraordinary race in the women's 100 final!

It's Torrie Lewis who takes it by four one-thousandths of a second after a TRIPLE photo finish 🤯 pic.twitter.com/y5OpN16cuC

— 7Sport (@7Sport) April 12, 2025

“I’m so happy because after Maurie I did not want to run, I thought this was going to be horrible but I’m just really glad I was able to find something and get another 100m title under my belt,” she said.

It has been an incredible week for O’Brien who has run eight races, highlighted by breaking Raelene Boyle’s national U/18 record.

The Perth local clocked an extraordinary 11.14sec to street the field in the U/18 girls 100m final. Boyle had set the record at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Originally published as Rowan Browning pips Lachlan Kennedy in 100m final at the Australian Athletics Championships