Just five Aussies top rankings
SUPERSTAR hurdler Sally Pearson and throwers Dani Stevens and Kathryn Mitchell are among a select group of just five Australians who top the able-bodied track and field rankings in their specialist events heading into the Commonwealth Games.
Australia’s overall haul of nine medals in able-bodied athletics events at the 2014 Glasgow Games in Glasgow was the lowest in 80 years, although six of them were gold.
Going purely off the world rankings since the beginning of the 2017 season, the home team is favoured to top the podium in only five events — all women’s — this time around.
However, the likes of defending men’s marathon champ Michael Shelley, walker Dane Bird-Smith, decathlete Cedric Dubler and pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall will also expect to be right in the mix for gold.
As has so often been the case in the past decade, the spotlight will shine brightest on Pearson, the two-time defending champion in the 100m hurdles. An untimely Achilles issue has hampered the Queenslander in the final stages of her preparation, but she still expects to compete in the 100m hurdles and the 4x100m relay.
“Because I’ve been through hands and Achilles and hamstrings (injuries) before and deciding to coach myself, all the big decisions I’ve had to make - it’s definitely helped me to cope,” Pearson told reporters.
“There is more spotlight here because it’s my hometown and Australia ... but I’m dealing with it well and staying relaxed.
“If the main competitors come out it’s not going to be an easy race to try and win ... but you know me, every major competition is all out, go for it.” At the Olympics and world championships, Pearson has spent the past decade taking on a flotilla of flying Americans. At Commonwealth level, the challenge is likely to come from Jamaicans Danielle Williams and Megan Simmonds and England’s Tiffany Porter.