Riley Day was a hit during the Melbourne Nitro Athletics Series.
SALLY Pearson has entered the 100m as well as her favourite 100m hurdles in next week’s Queensland Athletics Championships.
Pearson has two more planned 60m hurdles races — in Athlone, Ireland, Thursday morning (Australian time) and in Birmingham, England, on Sunday morning — on her European indoor tour before she returns for the rest of the Australian season.
The 2012 Olympic Games champion has time to evaluate how she rebounds from her long haul flight before the four-day state titles at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre, which start on February 23.
But at close of entries on Tuesday, she had put her name down for the 100m and 100m hurdles events.
The beauty of Pearson’s influence on Australian athletics has been her hunger for repeated competition.
“Sally has been a great supporter of our meets in Queensland and what she’s done in Europe are encouraging and show she is heading towards her best,’’ Queensland Athletics chief executive David Gynther said.
Sally Pearson has signed on for the Queensland Athletics Championships.Source:AFP
Pearson has clocked 7.91sec in both her 60m races in Germany, placing third in the second, in Berlin, behind German winner Cindy Roleder (7.85), a 2015 world titles silver medallist.
The self-coached 2017 London world championships hopeful sought elite racing in Europe rather than sign up for the Nitro series in Melbourne this month.
Riley Day, the 16-year-old who raised her profile in Melbourne, will run in 18-and-under competition in the 100m and 200m events at the Queensland titles.
“We’re not going to do open events at this stage, even at the national titles (next month in Sydney),’’ coach Donna Thomas said.
“How Riley handled the attention in the Nitro series was amazing, but the Commonwealth Youth Championships (in the Bahamas in July) are our focus this year after the nationals.’’
Riley Day was a hit during the Melbourne Nitro Athletics Series.Source:Getty Images
The long-striding Beaudesert teenager has patience for what could be a long international career.
“I’ll be 18 when the Commonwealth Games are on at the Gold Coast and, if I am up to the standard, I’ll try as hard as I can to qualify for it,’’ Day said.
Brisbane Olympian Alex Hartmann has entered the meet and the concurrent NSW titles, seeking the best conditions in which to post a world championships qualifying time.
Other sprint entries include Trae Williams, Tom Gamble and Aaron Stubbs.
Originally published as Sally hotfoots it home for Qld titles
