How a strategic gamble backfired on Australia’s fastest man

Rohan Browning knows he has a mountain to climb just to get back to where he was.

Browning was a regular semi-finalist, at world championship level and at Tokyo 2020. On Saturday morning, Paris time, Australia’s fastest man was run out in the heats at Paris 2024 in a performance he admitted was his most disappointing at a major championships.

Browning has been knocking on the door of something special for years. He has been at pains to unlock what he needs to go from semi-finalist to finalist, to go from being a 10 seconds flat runner to a sub-10 second runner.

On Saturday he clocked 10. 29 in the heats. He wasn’t even the fastest Australian in the field; that honour went to Josh Azzopardi (10.20), and he didn’t make the semis, either.

Browning’s year never got going as he managed a minor knee grumble that affected his training and competition, but he refused to use this as an excuse.

“I’m not scapegoating injury this year. I came into this healthy for the past two months and actually really confident in where I was at. There were glimmers that I was in shape from Tokyo because I wasn’t tired yet. But didn’t put it together and was just off the pace,” he said.

Rohan Browning of Australia (left) competes during the men’s 100m heats on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images

“I think I’ve got a mountain to climb to just get back into that top class.

“I definitely had more confidence in myself coming into this than what the results suggested. This is one of the hardest events in sports and the quality is so high at the moment.”

Because of the interruptions, Browning had to strike a balance between racing for points or a qualifying just to make it to the Olympics, with the heavy training block he needed to get himself into the right physical shape for Paris. He and his team decided to back off the racing, and work on training.

“I think, maybe with hindsight I would have benefited from some racing. But I made a strategic call that I needed to train to find that shape and also to rehab the knee,” he said.

Browning has trimmed down over the past year, changing his diet and altering his training to shed body mass and run lighter. He still feels this is the right path to take, notwithstanding the season’s results.

“I don’t think I need to do anything revolutionary, I just need to continue to evolve … in this sport where the margins are so slim,” he said.

“You know, you don’t need to go and do something drastic. I think it’s a matter of patience, sticking with it and just continuing to have to evolve.”

And it’s about being Sisyphus and being prepared to push that rock back up the mountain.

Elsewhere in the glamour event of the Games, American showman Noah Lyles was beaten in his heat but progressed to the semis in 10.04s. The two fastest qualifiers were fellow US sprinters Kenneth Bednarek and Fred Kerley.

These runners do not do understatement, as Bednarek illustrated when he was asked how he felt about being an underdog.

“This year, I am changing the narrative. I have been an underdog for a couple of years, but I am not trying to be an underdog. I am trying to be the top dog,” he declared.

“And once I finally get that milestone, I am not coming back. I am going to run away with it.” Look out.

Defending Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs promised to go faster in the semis than his 10.05s on Saturday. “The last two years were difficult because I had a lot of pressure,” he said. “When a lot of people talk about you, it is not easy. But I had to work, work, work. And now I am here.”

The semi-finals of the men’s 100m are at 4.30am Monday AEST, with the final at 5.50am.

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