Trinitarian wins Comm Games sprint heat – Rohan Browning eyes 100m final

Rohan Browning has made a flying start to his Commonwealth Games campaign, winning his 100m heat in convincing style, and is determined to make it to Thursday’s final.

The 24-year-old Trinitarian was the equal fourth fastest of the 27 qualifiers for the semi-finals as he won the penultimate of 10 heats in an impressive 10.10 seconds.

He is now intent on making amends for last year’s Tokyo Olympics, where he ran the second-fastest time ever by an Australian, and shocked former world champion Yohan Blake in winning his heat, only to bow out in the semis.

He also wants to make up for the disappointment of the recent world championships in Oregon, where he ran 10.22 seconds to be eliminated.

“That was by far my best run for the year,” he told Channel Seven after his first appearance in Birmingham.

“Now I don’t want a repeat of Tokyo. I want to keep a little bit of powder dry for the final.

“I think I have tapped into a good vein of form for these championships.

“This year I have struggled a bit on the circuit. The losses really started to pile up and I’ve been wondering where that (his form in the heat victory) has been all year.

“It’s been a real season of ups and downs but I heard a great quote over on the PGA Tour earlier this week – a winner is just a loser who keeps on trying. I tried to channel a bit of that in this Commonwealth Games.

“I knew I had a run like that in me. I stumbled a bit out of the blocks, it was far from the perfect race.”

Browning (Class of 2015) will race in one of three semi-finals at 4.10am Sydney time on Thursday, with the final to follow at 6.30am.

He will be looking to become the first Australian to reach a Commonwealth Games 100m final since Aaron Rouge-Serret at Delhi in 2010.

In his debut at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games he missed the final by an agonising one-thousandth of a second.