The men’s 100m final has been run and won with Lamont Marcell Jacobs from Italy winning the country’s first-ever gold medal in the 100m in a time of 9.80.
It was a nervous start for all runners and there was heartbreak for Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes who was disqualified before the race got underway after a false start.
The seven remaining runners had a clean start on the second attempt.
The big Italian found a second gear after a poor start and powered away to create history in Tokyo.
There was a special moment with Jacobs embracing high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi who had just tied for first place in the final of his event.
The two Italians embracing after their incredible performances.
100m men’s final
1. Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA) – 9.80
2. Fred Kerley (USA) – 9.84
3. Andre de Grasse (CAN) – 9.89
4. Akani Simbine (RSA) – 9.93
5. Ronnie Baker (USA) – 9.95
6. Bingtian Su (CHN) – 9.98
DNF. Enoch Adegoke (NGR) – NO TIME
DQ. Zharnel Hughes (GBR) – NO TIME
Earlier, Australia’s Peter Bol beat his own Australian Olympic record of 1:44:11 to win his semi-final of the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics.
Bol went out fast and managed to hold on in a thrilling finish which Channel Seven commentator Bruce McAvaney said was one of the best runs he’d seen by an Aussie.
“He can win gold,” McAvaney said.
“It was a weird race but I put myself in a position to qualify,” Bol said.
“There’s still a lot to go. We can’t underestimate any of these runners. Just got to stay humble.”
Bol’s time was the second-fastest out of the three semi-finals and if he wasn’t being noticed before he certainly will be now by the world’s best.
Bol and his family left Sudan during the country’s civil war, arriving in Australia as a refugee at 8-years of age.
He’s already become one of many stories of these Games and now he has a chance to get an Olympic medal. The final will be held on Wednesday night at 10:05pm AEST.
Bol”s , Australia’s latest sprint cult hero Rohan Browning just missed out on the final of the Tokyo Olympics after crossing the line in his 100m semi-final in a time of 10.09.
Browning had a nervous wait in his race with a false start delaying the first final by a good 10-minutes.
The 23-year-old was in a race alongside pre-Olympic favourite Trayvon Bromell. He saw the previous semi-final winning time was 9.97 and Bronwing knew he needed to match his heat time of 10.01 to have a chance of making the final.
Unfortunately for the Aussie it wasn’t enough to get him a spot but he can hold his head high having taken on the fastest men on the planet and matched and beat many of them.
Browning appeared to have a slow start out of the blocks but, it wasn’t what it appeared on camera.
He was actually second fastest, his reaction time of 0.136 seconds bettered only by the heat winner Zharnel Hughes’ 0.116. But he struggled to get up and running over the first 10 metres to slip off the pace before fighting back close to the finish.
“It’s tough,” Browning told Channel 7.
“I left myself with too much work to do.”
“It’s just about putting it together in one run. The next Olympics is only three more years away.”
The Australian made the point that it wasn’t that long ago that he was finishing dead last in his heat at the World Championships and it isn’t lost on him the great strides he’s made in his running.
In the end, the slowest time to qualify was a 10-second flat with seven runners breaking the 10-second barrier.
Browning was placed 13th overall from the 24 runners, with Bingtian Su of China a surprising fastest with a blistering 9.83 in the final semi, .002 seconds ahead of Ronnie Baker of the US.
American Trayvon Bromell, the fastest man in the world this year, and the guy touted by Usain Bolt as the favourite for gold, missed out after running 10 flat but running third in Browning’s semi.
Su is the 2018 World Championship silver medallist and the first Asian runner to break the magical 10-second mark.
It was a great night for Australian athletics with Brandon Starc clearing the highest ever mark for an Australian at the Olympics in the high jump. His jump of 2.35m was just below his personal best of 2.36m.
He finished fifth but it was the highest ever jump to finish in that position at the Olympics showing just how competitive the final was.
His famous brother, Mitchell was shown cheering on the action with the Australian cricket team in Bangladesh.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
A great night of track & field. Just can't believe the Italians, well done them. I thought they got carried away with Browning's heat run. He did good but to call him a finalist was a dumb call.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
The 100m Mens Final was fantastic, a great win by Jacobs of Italy, but also each sprinter beat their own personal best in that race, how awesome is that! Cant do any better. Good to finally see a different name other than U. Bolt as the gold medal winner for the last 17 years. Jacob ran a 9.8 sec which was the same time as Bolt in the last Olympics.
JGK
Roar Guru
That was a terrific 100m final. It’s not often someone gets run down.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
I can't beat you so we both win! yep that's class.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Was always going to be hard with much greater pressure in semi, but browning did very well