Torrie Lewis clinches national women's 100m title by 0.004 as Rohan Browning claims men's crown by 0.005

PERTH: Torrie Lewis won the Australian women's 100-metre title by just four thousandths of a second on Saturday night, before Rohan Browning claimed the men's crown by five thousandths of a second a few minutes later on a spellbinding evening in Perth.

After a captivating wait of three minutes at WA Athletics Stadium — a window of time that allowed officials to finalise the outcome of an astonishing three-way photo finish — Lewis was declared champion with a time of 11.24 (.236 seconds).

Local sprinter Leah O'Brien, the 17-year-old who earlier in the week had broken the national under-18 record set by the legendary Raelene Boyle in 1968, took silver with a time of 11.24 (.240).

READ MORE: Star's priceless reaction to controversial penalty try

READ MORE: 'Shocked' Thurston opens up about Leniu clash

READ MORE: McKay's 17-minute feature marred by head knock

Bronze was picked up by Bree Rizzo (née Masters), who produced such a desperate dip that she crashed heavily and was left with bleeding wounds on her hands and left shoulder. The Paris 2024 Olympian clocked 11.25 seconds.

Browning took victory in the men's race with a time of 10.01 (.001), ahead of Lachie Kennedy in 10.01 (.006).

The outcome of the men's photo finish was decided far quicker than the women's; some 30 seconds after dipping, a euphoric Browning raised a clenched right fist in the Perth sky.

Browning, for many years the best male Australian sprinter by a yawning margin, had tumbled down the pecking order after the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, amid an injury-riddled run and the emergence of several young guns: in particular, Kennedy and Gout Gout.

Saturday night's triumph rearranged the pecking order.

The 27-year-old Browning — considerably older than 17-year-old Gout, who didn't contest the open-age 100m, and 21-year-old Kennedy — doubled down when he spoke to media trackside.

"There might have only been a few people in the stadium tonight that believed that was possible, but you only need to believe in yourself," said Browning, who equalled his personal best with his 10.01.

"It [the win] just makes it emphatic. I had the training done to suggest I'm in my best shape, and I knew it, but I hadn't showcased that to anybody yet. But that's all right, too.

"I wanted to come out and remind these guys who their dad is," he added, grinning cheekily.

"There's a lot of short memories in this sport. I really couldn't believe how many people came out of the woodwork to knock me last year off the back of a really tough year."

Social media critics made him hungrier.

"Not that I keep my eye on social media too closely, but you see people charting you," said the Tokyo Olympic semi-finalist.

"You know what? Nuffies are good for sport — that's my controversial opinion. You need engaged fans, you need people who are keen on the sport and putting their opinion out there. So I don't take it too personally or have a problem with it, but for sure, you use it as fuel and you want to show what you can do."

The defending champion, 19-year-old Sebastian Sultana, was ruled out of the final after suffering a minor hamstring tear in the semis earlier in the evening.

The three athletes involved in the women's photo finish — Lewis, O'Brien and Rizzo — spent the three minutes required to determine the placings waiting feverishly in the middle of the track, just beyond the finish line. A horde of photographers were crouched down in front of them, ready to capture the moment everyone was waiting for.

Eventually, legendary commentator Bruce McAvaney announced over the loud speaker that Lewis had won. She celebrated with a leaping pirouette, and a shriek of triumph, as a crowd of some 3000 people stood and applauded.

View gallery

'Don't try': Message sent as Gout Gout, DQ'd rival embrace

"I saw Bree fall over and I was like, 'Well you can't get a better dip than that'," Lewis said.

"I'm so happy. After Maurie [Melbourne's Maurie Plant Meet late last month, where she ran poorly], I did not want to run, [and was thinking], 'This is going to be horrible'.

"I'm just really glad I was able to find something and get another [national] 100m title under my belt."

O'Brien had announced herself as a rising star with a pair of runs at the national junior championships earlier in the week, winning the under-18 200m in 23.37 and the under-18 100m in 11.14.

She broke the under-18 100m record set by Boyle at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics.

"Honestly, my goal was to just make the [open-age] final, so I'm so grateful to be here," O'Brien said.

"In the next few seasons I've hopefully got more to come, so this is just the start of it for me, and I'm very, very excited to see what else I can do."

Despite taking a nasty fall and having to settle for bronze, Rizzo was in an upbeat mood.

"I knew it was going to take an absolutely exceptional run to win; the field is the strongest we've seen it in so long," Rizzo said.

"I'd gotten second three times [and] I got really sick last year. I was so hungry for the win that I just threw everything I had at the line. My legs feel like jelly.

"The fall was worth it. My hands are all ripped up. But you know what? We'll recover, it's fine."

Both 100m finals were run with a legal wind — the women's with a tailwind of +0.9 metres per second and the men's a +1.5.

Ahead of the championships, there appeared to be a feasible chance of an Australian clocking a legal sub-10-second 100m for the first time since 2003.

Kennedy's coach told Wide World of Sports he'd be "surprised" if his protégée didn't crack the magical mark, but the Brisbane product proceeded to log times of 10.00, 10.16 and 10.01.

Gout twice clocked 9.99 in the under-20 100m on Thursday night, but the Adidas-sponsored prodigy was aided by an illegal wind on both occasions.