Self-coached Pearson is ‘still learning’

– Australian hurdling star Sally Pearson (right) admitted yesterday she was heading into the IAAF World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games learning how to best manage coaching herself.

Pearson, 31, claimed her ninth Australian 100m hurdles crown last month and will use the indoor champs in Birmingham as a warm-up for next month’s Gold Coast Commonwealths.

“Sometimes I don’t know who’s talking in my head,” joked Pearson, who won the world indoor 60m hurdles title in Istanbul in 2012, the same year she went on to win Olympic gold over 100m hurdles in London.

Pearson battled back from four serious injuries in 12 months to win world outdoor gold in London last year, which she described as her “proudest moment”.

“Coming back to competition was a huge deal for me,” she said, having broken an arm in the Rome Diamond League meet in 2015 and sustained a hamstring injury a year later that saw her miss the Rio Olympics.

Pearson will face an almighty challenge for a second world indoor title from a trio of dangerous, in-form Americans in Sharika Nelvis, Kendra Harrison and Christina Manning.

Harrison, the 100m hurdles world record-holder, last month blitzed to 7.72sec before Nelvis edged Manning, 7.70 to 7.73 at the US championships at altitude in Albuquerque.

“The Americans are in red-hot shape,” acknowledged Pearson.

“They’re running exceptionally fast.” – AFP