Pearson on track for the next hurdle

ATHLETICS SALLY Pearson’s long-awaited return to the track will be in an inter-club meet in Brisbane next weekend.

The two-time world hurdles champion will race over 100m in her first hit-out for almost 12 months. Pearson hasn’t been sighted since she was sensationally forced to withdraw at the last minute from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games because of an achilles injury.

“I feel in good shape,” Pearson said.

“I wouldn’t put myself out there if I wasn’t in good shape.”

The 2012 Olympic champion will then have her first start over the hurdles at the Queensland state titles on March 10 before then appearing at the Queensland Track Classic in Brisbane on March 23.

Her final domestic run will be at the Australian Championships in Sydney in early April which double as the selection trials for the world championships in Doha in September.

Pearson, 32, who is selfcoached, has been slowly rebuilding after the disappointment of missing the Commonwealth Games where she was the face of the event given it was in her hometown.

She is determined to do everything possible to get to the start line at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

This was one of the major reasons for her recent decision to quit the Athletics Australia board. Pearson joined the board in August as the athletes’ representative in what was an unusual move for a current competing athlete.

But the workload and travel factor from her Gold Coast base has seen her step down.

“I learnt a lot and had a really good time but I realised I needed to just focus on myself,” Pearson said.

“I had to be selfish and my priority, physically and mentally, had to be all about Tokyo.

“It’s definitely something I will look at again once my career has finished.”

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