SPRINTERS GUTTED BY ‘FREAK’ STUMBLE

TASMANIAN sprint kings Jack Hale and Jacob Despard have been left disappointed and confused following a freak accident where the Australian men’s 4x100m relay team crashed out of the Commonwealth Games after failing to finish their heat on Sunday morning.

After blistering legs from both Hobart runners, disaster struck on the final exchange as Rohan Browning failed to take the baton from Hale after Australia’s fastest man slipped and fell to the ground as Hale approached.

The rare incident resulted in an official result of ‘did not finish’ to crush their medal ambitions and leave the Hobart duo in disbelief.

“It’s pretty hard to process. We’ve trained for years for today,” Despard said.

“I’m pretty gutted to be honest. I feel like the first three legs were almost perfection for us really. It’s going to take a few days to completely process what’s just happened because we really had high hopes of making the final and I thought we were a good chance for a medal. I know Rohan’s probably going to have many sleepless nights after he watches that replay. It’s just hard for us.”

Hale was equally devastated. “That’s the sport – it is what it is. You’ve got to travel to get to these things and freak things happen. It’s done now,” he said.

Browning stumbled and fell on the last leg of the 4x100m relay heats, crashing the Australian team out of the final and medal contention.

The mishap occurred when Browning began his acceleration to be near top pace during the baton change.

The moment was shattering for Browning, who was immediately consoled by Hale as he walked alongside the straight.

“I just tripped over,” a devastated Browning said, adding “it has never happened before”.

“These boys have put in so much work in this relay. I take so much responsibility for that (error). It was one of those freak things, I am just gutted, gutted.”

Browning was wearing new spikes for the race and it appeared he may have got the front of the spike caught in the track.

England easily won the heat, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago, and the home nation will go into the final as the favourite.

The Australians were in the top three positions and set to make the final before Browning’s fall.

“A disaster for the Australians,” Bruce McAvaney said in Seven’s commentary.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it to be truthful.”