Speed queen has eyes on home Games glory

SHE may be one of the star turns of the World Indoor Athletics Championships but Sally Pearson insists it’s merely a stepping stone for her Commonwealth Games campaign.

Pearson will run in the 60m hurdles event this weekend in Birmingham, where she’ll aim to retain the title she won in 2012. But the 31-year-old world and former Olympic champion says her main focus is claiming gold in her home town of the Gold Coast next month.

“We’ve already had the national championships and on April 4 we have the Commonwealth Games,” Pearson said. “We are all preparing for that.

“I feel physically and mentally ready for this but my main focus is the Commonwealth Games now, partly because it will take place just 10 minutes from where I live.”

It’s been a tumultuous two years for Pearson, who suffered the heartbreak of injury ruling her out of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, only to bounce back in stunning fashion a year later and win at the World Championships in London.

Pearson said overcoming serious wrist, hamstring and achilles tendon problems to win her second 100m hurdles world title was the greatest achievement of her career.

“It was a long way for me to come back after my dramatic fall,” she said. “I decided to train myself and it was a fun ride. It gives me a different perspective of the sport I love.

“I had four serious injuries in 12 months. For me, even coming back, I cannot be more proud, more excited to be competing.”