Excitement builds as Sally hits top gears

WORLD champion Sally Pearson says she feeling like her “old self” after a fastest 100m flat time in a decade.

Excitement around the Gold Coaster is building for the Commonwealth Games due to a rollicking early-season win in Brisbane.

Pearson won the 100m flat race in 11.17 sec at the State Athletics Facility on Saturday, with national record holder Melissa Breen (11.49) a close second.

The tailwind was 2m/sec at the time of the final – the maximum allowable wind assistance – which gives Pearson a Commonwealth Games 100m A-qualifying time in what is an afterthought event for her.

The world 100m hurdles champion’s personal best in the 100m is 11.14, set in 2007 before she zeroed in more exclusively on the 100m hurdles for major championships.

Pearson’s campaign tracks towards April’s Gold Coast Games, when she will bid for a third Commonwealth gold medal in the 100m hurdles, with March’s world indoor championships in Birmingham, England, also a goal.

“I just feel like I’m getting back to my old self again, which is exciting,’’ she told Athletics Australia.

“The result has reassured me that everything’s going in the right direction.