Rohan Browning

Fast Facts 

Sport: Athletics 
Event: 100 metres 
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: Tokyo Olympic Games 100m semi-final
Coach: Andrew Murphy 
Year Born: 1997
State Born: Sydney, NSW 

About Rohan

Rohan Browning was born on December 31st, which he calls “the worst birthday in sport.”

Always younger than his rivals, Browning was a late developer when it came to finding his athletics feet.

He played local rugby and did one year of Little Athletics, but it wasn't until he was 16 that he started training for athletics after moving to Trinity Grammar School where he met his current coach and Olympian Andrew Murphy. 

Browning's skill developed quickly, running 10.47 for the 100m and a wind assisted 10.18, before he was 17.

In the early years, there was a rivalry with Tasmania’s Jack Hale, then at the 2018 Commonwealth Games trials, Trae Williams would be the benchmark, but at those games, Browning would be the best of the Aussies, missing the final by an agonising one-thousandth of a second.

After the Commonwealth Games, due to an Achilles injury, Browning didn’t put on spikes for nine months. 

Then, in 2019 he smashed his 100m best, running 10.08, the equal third-fastest Australian ever.

Browning was selected for the 2019 World Championships, Australia's first representative in the event for 12 years, but he was disappointed being run out in the heats.  It was a wake-up call and one thing he and coach Murphy strived for was consistency in performances, not just a one-off result. 

In early 2021, Browning became just the second Aussie to run under 10.00 seconds, running a wind assisted 9.96 in Wollongong.

In early March he ran a 100 yards Australian best, clocking 9.41 seconds. Awaiting the ideal conditions, warm temperature and a legal tailwind, at the Queensland Track Classic in late March, he then clocked a PB of 10.05, nailing the Olympic standard and stamping his ticket to Tokyo, where he will become the first Aussie in 17 years to compete in the men’s 100m. It was also the fastest time by an Aussie in Australia. 

At the Olympics, hopes were high for Rohan Browning, and he delivered. Running from lane one in his heat, he shocked, winning the race and defeating former world champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica. Another goal had been sub-10 and he carved another 0.04 seconds from his PB to record 10.01. 

The next day he lined up in the semi-final and was now no longer going under the radar. Rohan reacted well to the gun but didn't drive in the first 15 metres as he had in the heat. He was a stride back in the biggest race of his life, but the 23-year-old showed maturity to relax and in full stride pulled background on the leaders but he ran out of track and finished a close fifth in 10.09 seconds.

In 2022 he didn’t progress out of the 100m heats at the Eugene world championships, but two weeks later placed sixth in the Commonwealth Games 100m final. In the 4x100m relay he unfortunately tripped as he was about to collect the baton for the anchor leg. He ran his fastest time of 10.02 on Australian soil in 2023 and at his fourth world championships in Budapest ran consistently well with two 10.11 times in his 100m heat and semi-final where he placed a competitive 4th.