How sprint stars buried the hatchet to set up shock relay gold

A conversation Rohan Browning and Josh Azzopardi had at the Australian Institute of Sport’s Italian base allowed the sprint stars to put their selection scrap to bed and cleared the relay team’s path to gold.

Azzopardi says it’s clear from what he’s seen on social media since the Australian team’s boilover triumph in the men’s 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games that the win has “sent shockwaves” through the athletics world.

But it’s likely the team would not have been able to stun their competition in Glasgow, including reigning Olympic champions Canada, had Browning and Azzopardi not been able to clear the air.

Lachlan Kennedy, Eddie Nketia and Browning were given the three individual men’s 100m spots for the Glasgow Games.

Azzopardi, who had put together a strong domestic season, felt “robbed” by selectors and launched an appeal.

In a case heard by the National Sports Tribunal, Azzopardi specifically appealed the selection of Browning, but the Sydney speed demon failed to have the decision overturned.

Just two weeks later, Browning and Azzopardi were strutting around the track at Scotstoun Stadium arm in arm and smiling from ear to ear, having teamed up to win Commonwealth Games gold.

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“We had a chat once we both got over to Europe, at the AIS facility in Gavirate in Italy,” Azzopardi told nine.com.au.

“It was about the whole ‘nothing personal’ kind of thing and how the relay team is in such a good position.

“He was really good about it, and it just shows his class.

“Now we’re Commonwealth champions together, and it’s unreal.

“It was very good for both of us just to be like, ‘You know what? Let’s come together and do something for this country and do something for this team’. And we actually did that.”

The breaking of bread said a lot about the maturity of the relay teammates.

“I credit the connection that the squad had made,” Azzopardi said.

“We spend a lot of time with each other as a group, so nothing can really derail us.

“That showed with the picture at the end of the race where we’re all happy for each other.”

Browning, an Olympic and world championship semi-finalist, ran a sensational anchor leg to ensure Australia held on to win gold by 0.04 of a second.

Not since the 1974 Commonwealth Games, 52 years ago, had Australia won gold in the men’s 4x100m relay.

The four men who teamed up to win silver in Glasgow – Canada’s Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse – were the same four men who claimed Olympic gold in Paris two years ago.

Those four men also secured silver at the world athletics championships in Tokyo last year, behind the USA.

Beating a quartet of such quality to Commonwealth gold has sent the Australian team’s self-belief skyrocketing.

It’s also put on notice the relay powerhouse that is the USA and the relay sleeping giant that is Jamaica, ahead of next year’s Beijing world championships and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

“We’re not really known as a strong sprinting country but here we are winning gold against the Olympic champions,” said Azzopardi, who is confident he can crack the 10-second barrier in the coming years.

“So going forward to the world champs next year and the Olympics after, we definitely now want to push for medals and win again.

“Some of these countries probably think that we’re just thrown into lane eight to fill lanes, so it was good to come out, win out of lane eight and shock everyone.

“I think it’s actually sent shockwaves through a lot of social media as well, because every time I scroll through my phone, there’s something about how the Aussies have upset a few countries and won the 4x100m.

“It’s a great message for us to send out.”