‘Three years’: Australia’s new sprint prince makes Paris promise

Australia’s new sprint prince may have failed to make the 100m final in Tokyo, but Rohan Browning says he’s far from done ⁠— in fact, he’s already set his eyes on one better in Paris.

Browning has been well-known in sprint circles for years, with many christening the blistering 23-year-old from Sydney our new racing prince.

In Tokyo, the rest of the country took notice too.

Australia’s new sprinting idol pulled out a stunning run in his qualifying heat. He shaved 0.04 off his personal best, burning over the line to the tune of 10.01 seconds.

It was the first time in 17 years ⁠— since Joshua Ross all the way back in 2004, in fact — that Australia had boasted a sprinter in the illustrious event. And boy did Browning bring the goods; his 10.01 is one of the fastest times run in the 100m in Aussie history, and he did it against Usain Bolt’s wingman Yohan Blake to boot.

The fairytale only lasted until the next evening, however. In the semi-finals, Browning found himself burned out against the world’s best. He clocked up 10.09, just short of that desired 9.99 time to make it into the 100m finals.

Tokyo was far from a failure for Sydney’s sprint star, however. And he knows it; he’s already set his eyes on the 2024 Games, and dropped a big Paris promise.

“The next Olympics is only three years away,” he said.

“There’s more to pull out of myself. I can definitely be pushed a bit more,” Browning continued. “That’s the one thing I’ve been lacking on the Australian circuit and it’s the thing a lot of people pointed to when they would say I wasn’t quite capable of doing well at this Olympics. So it’s nice to prove people wrong.

That doesn’t mean Browning has come out the other side of Tokyo totally happy. Like any top-level competitor, he’s already looked back at the race and begun thinking about the minute details he could have improved on.

“I am disappointed. yeah,” he said.

“I think I had a better run in me than 10.09 but I gave the field too much ground early on and you can’t do that in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games.

“Sometimes you nail it, sometimes you don’t, that’s championship racing.

That’s in the past now though. Paris awaits in just three years, and Browning is going to do everything to “build,” with a sub-10 run, and the 100m finals appearance that should come with the time-slice, in his sights.

“There are bits and pieces I walk away with that are positive, and bits that I can work on. That’s part of the learning experience. Ultimately I’ve learned a lot from this. That’s the main thing,” Browning said as he left Tokyo.

“You know, I’ve been consistent this year, and I’ve been knocking on the door of sub-10, which has been a big breakthrough. Hopefully it comes later in the year in Europe.

“I’ve walked away from this experience with a lot learned.

“I’ve felt all the component parts (of my race) have been there,” the Sydney sprinter added, “but I haven’t put it all together. I still don’t feel like I have. In Paris, I really think I can get it, yeah.”

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