Discus Denny delivers 

The 25-year-old Matthew Denny delivered Australia’s best ever men’s discus performance in terms of distance thrown and place achieved at the Olympic Games. 

Competing in a stacked field that saw gold won with a throw of 68.90m, Denny hurled a personal best 67.02m on his sixth and final throw to place 4th. He was just five centimetres from bronze and Australia’s first ever podium finish in the event. 

Competing at his second Olympic Games, Denny went bang from the outset hitting an opening mark of 65.76m to take an early lead. He followed this up with 65.53m and 65.94m to secure a further three throws in the final as the fourth ranked athlete at the half-way mark. 

Denny returned to the thrower’s circle and hit 65.00m in round four, closing out his series with impressive results of 66.06m and his furthest mark of 67.02m. It was an incredible series of throws on the biggest stage. 

A Commonwealth Games medallist in the hammer throw, Denny’s result improves on Australia’s best performance at an Olympic Games by Benn Harradine at London 2012. Harradine threw 64.00m and placed 9th overall. 

“I knew I came in with good form, but to be honest I hadn’t thrown that far in training,” Denny said. 

“To be so close to making so much history really hurts, but it was fun. To me it was like a clinic I just kept hitting them and delivered when it counted. 

“I was five centimetres off, shorter than the size of a beer can. I’m glad I threw the best by an Australian male at the Olympics. My goal was to win and do my best, I just think I had a little more there.” 

Browning wins 100m heat in style 

Not to be outdone in the men’s 100m heats, Rohan Browning stormed from the blocks to clock a personal best 10.01 seconds and win his heat over a stacked field that included former world champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica. 

Browning progresses to the semi-final with history in his sights.  

A place in the final would make him the first Australian to do so since Hec Hogan in 1956, a mere 0.02 seconds faster would make him only the second green and gold charge to break 10-seconds in legal conditions after he clocked a wind-assisted 9.96 earlier this year. 

“It feels good. If I can take one thing away from it – Australia, don’t go out and anti-vax protest, stay home and get around the underdogs at the Olympics. It feels good to take out some big scalps early on,” Browning said. 

“A lot of people during the season said I wasn’t capable of making the final, or I wouldn’t do well at this Olympics, so it’s nice to prove people wrong.  

Browning crossed the line unsure if he’d taken out his heat, which saw the 23-year-old rank 6th overall ahead of the semi-final. 

“I wasn’t 100% sure I won it or not. I had a pretty good idea because everyone was on my right, but I felt elation,” Browning said. 

“You come here to the Olympic Games and you have so much respect for every athlete. You make yourself so vulnerable, being out there and the thing you commit your life to for so many years, so you know, it’s such a great opportunity to live your values and try and perform on the world stage.” 

Australia’s competition schedule was rounded out by Henry Frayne, with the 31-year-old soaring 7.93m (w: +0.1) to narrowly miss the men’s long jump final. He didn’t have the greatest lead-in to to competing at his third Olympic Games but he almost made the Olympic final. Frayne has previously won silver at the World Indoor Athletics Championships.  

Cody Lynch