When you happen to live on Australia&rsquo;s Gold Coast, with its sub-tropical climate and 300 days of sunshine every year, indoor athletics must seem like an alien concept.
For Sally Pearson, though, leaving behind the sun and heading halfway around the world to tread the track and field &ldquo;boards&rdquo; proved to be a worthwhile exercise.
Not that the Gold Coast sprint hurdler with the Midas touch was a prolific indoor racer.&nbsp;In an international career that spanned 16 years, the two-time world outdoor, one-time Olympic 100m hurdles champion and seventh fastest 100m hurdler of all-time only contested nine indoor meets over the barriers.
Three of those meets happened to be World Indoor Championships, and, in turn, they featured the joy, the frustration and the physical pain that hallmarked Pearson&rsquo;s long and productive career. 
<h2>Sopot silver</h2>
Now 35, living happily in competitive retirement with husband Kieran and one-year-old daughter Ruby, Pearson has generously donated the spikes and singlet from the second of those global indoor campaigns to the ever-expanding <a href="https://worldathletics.org/heritage/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)</a>.
The 2014 World Indoor Championships in the Polish seaside resort of Sopot required Pearson to harness the fighting spirit she doubtless inherited from her single mother Anne, who worked two jobs to make enough money to support her daughter&rsquo;s burgeoning athletics ambitions.
Pearson arrived in Sopot as the defending champion, success at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul (in 7.73) having maintained the momentum of her stunning world outdoor success in Daegu in 2011 through to what proved to be a victorious Olympic year campaign. 
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 However, she was still rebuilding her form, technique, and confidence after being undermined by two hamstring tears in 2013. She led the world rankings with a 7.79 clocking in Berlin but whacked the ultimate hurdle in the final and had to settle for silver in 7.85, 0.05 behind the emerging Nia Ali of the US. &ldquo;I stuffed up,&rdquo; Pearson lamented, with characteristic Aussie frankness.
Hampered by injury, she exited at the semifinal stage of the 2018 championships in Birmingham, her final taste of track and field indoors.
&ldquo;Indoors is fun,&rdquo; she said in Sopot. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s got a huge atmosphere because the crowd are so much closer. I think that&rsquo;s what I like about it the most.&rdquo; 
<h2>Melbourne&rsquo;s 80,000 home crowd</h2>
It was in the outdoor arenas, however, that the pride of the Gold Coast Victory club was at her sparkling best.
After dabbling in swimming and gymnastics, Sally Pearson &ndash; n&eacute;e McLellan &ndash; first made her mark in track and field in 2001, winning the 100m and the 90m hurdles at the Australian Youth Championships as a 14-year-old. Guided by Sharon Hannan, her coach until 2013, she combined sprinting and hurdling throughout her formative years.
It was in the 100m hurdles that she claimed a world youth title in 2003 at Sherbrooke in Canada, where Usain Bolt (just a month older, having been born in August 1986) took the boys&rsquo; 200m in a championship record of 20.40. McLellan prevailed in 13.42.
A month later, still only 16, the future Sally Pearson became Australia&rsquo;s youngest ever representative at the World Championships. Making her senior international debut in Paris. she was entrusted with anchor leg duties in the 4x100m relay heats.
At the 2004 World U20 Championships in Grosseto, Italy, McLellan claimed a bronze medal in the 100m, clocking a personal best of 11.40, but finished fourth in the 100m hurdles final, missing a second podium place by 0.01.
The following year her twin talents took her into the record books as the first woman to win the senior Australian 100m and 100m hurdles titles and early in 2006, still a teenager, she sampled the pressure cooker of a home major championships at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
The athletics events were held on a specially laid track and field arena inside the iconic MCG, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with 80,000-plus crowds replicating something of the 2000 Sydney Olympic atmosphere. It proved to be a rollercoaster experience for McLellan.
She reached the final of the flat 100m, finishing seventh in 11.50, but crashed out in dramatic, heart-breaking style while challenging for a medal in the 100m hurdles final. Consolation came with a bronze in the 4x100m relay, the home quartet taking third place behind Jamaica and England.
It was at the end of her prolonged 2006 season, at the World Cup meet in Athens in September, that McLellan broke through the 13-second barrier in the high hurdles, finishing fourth in 12.95. Then, six months later, at the Australian Championships in Brisbane in March 2007, she improved to 12.92, shaving 0.01 off Pam Ryan&rsquo;s 34-year-old national record.
That year she continued to pursue both the 100m and the 100m hurdles, reaching the semifinals of each at the World Championships in Osaka and lowering her lifetime best over the flat to 11.14. That, however, proved to be the limit of her personal ambition as a sprinter &ndash; and her fastest time too. 
<h2>World title and World Athlete of the Year</h2>
Come Olympic year, in 2008, McLellan channelled her focus solely on the 100m hurdles. It paid off in the Beijing Bird&rsquo;s Nest.
In a dramatic finish, as clear favourite Lolo Jones hit the ninth hurdle and stumbled home seventh and her US teammate Dawn Harper took gold in 12.54, the five women from second to sixth flashed across the line virtually together. Just 0.02 separated them and, after the photo-finish picture had been scrutinised, an ecstatic McLellan was given the silver medal in 12.64, the same time as bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada.
Hampered by a torn disc in her back, McLellan&nbsp;finished fifth in the 2009 world outdoor final in Berlin and then won the 2010 Commonwealth title in Delhi before entering the purple &ndash; or golden &ndash; patch of her career in 2011.
By now, she was Sally Pearson, having married school sweetheart Kieran Pearson in April 2010.
In the semifinals of the World Championships in Daegu, Pearson lowered her Oceania record to 12.36 (0.3m/s), then blitzed to her first global crown with a stunning 12.28 (1.1m/s) in the final. It moved her to the No.4 spot on the world all-time list &ndash; behind Bulgarians Yordanka Donkova (12.21) and Ginka Zagorcheva (12.25) and Russia&rsquo;s Lyudmila Narozhilenko (12.26) &ndash; although it now ranks seventh best. 
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<h2>The hot favourite delivers Olympic gold</h2>
Then, after world indoor triumph in Istanbul, came Olympic glory at London 2012.
Voted Female World Athlete of the Year in 2011, Pearson needed all of her steely determination to overcome the mounting pressure and the challenge of her rivals. There were inevitable parallels, and contrasts, to Cathy Freeman, who rode the host nation&rsquo;s expectations to her momentous, monumental 400m victory at the Sydney Olympics.
Back in 2000, Freeman travelled 11,000 miles to escape the mounting pressures of home by preparing for the Games in London, alongside her British rival Donna Fraser. Pearson based herself close to London in Kent, her mother&rsquo;s home county in England, living with her aunt.
That might have afforded some protection from the attentions of home but when Pearson emerged from training to take part in her final test before the Games, the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, she was the reddest of hot favourites. She had been unbeaten by any of her rivals in 31 hurdles races, outdoors and in, stretching back to August 2010. She had lost in Brussels in 2011 but it was one of the barriers that beat her in the Belgian capital; she fell at the sixth hurdle.
Warming up for her heat at Crystal Palace, she clattered into the second hurdle and tumbled to the rain-sodden track. She picked herself up but was clearly rattled. The usual decisive thrust of acceleration was absent as she rose from the blocks. She had to dig deep to hold off Kellie Wells, pipping the US hurdler by 0.01 in 12.53. Wells got the better of her in the final, prevailing by 0.02 in 12.57.
When it came to Games time, however, Pearson proved her thoroughbred pedigree &ndash; and her mettle. The resurgent Harper pushed her hard all the way in the final but the Australian edged the defending champion by 0.02, setting an Olympic record of 12.35, with Wells a distant third in 12.48. 
<h2>London gold again. The last hurrah!</h2>
The following year Pearson suffered two hamstring tears but still took world outdoor silver in Moscow. In 2014 there was world indoor silver and a second Commonwealth gold, but in 2015 she broke her wrist and left forearm after crashing in the Golden Gala in Rome and in 2016 a hamstring injury kept her out of the Rio Olympics.
And so, to the 2017 World Championships in London. Keni Harrison lined up clear favourite on the track where she scorched to her 12.20 world record twelve months prior. The US athlete could only finish fourth, however, as Pearson regained her Midas touch, winning from Harper again in London in 12.59.
It proved to be a final hurrah. An achilles tendon injury cruelly ruled Pearson out of her home Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. Then, in 2019, came the announcement of her competitive retirement.
Now working as a mentor for Athletics Australia, the Gold Coast&rsquo;s finest can draw upon many a golden memory for inspiration.
&ldquo;Winning Olympic gold was obviously huge,&rdquo; she told Steve Landells in an interview for World Athletics&rsquo; Personal Bests series. &ldquo;But my career highlight came at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, because of the time I ran in the final (12.28) and winning the gold medal.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have asked for any more.&rdquo;
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

For Sally Pearson, leaving behind the sun and heading halfway around the world to tread the track and field “boards” proved to be a worthwhile exercise.

"Indoors is fun" – Pearson gifts Sopot 2014 singlet and spikes to MOWA

In a special episode of the World Athletics podcast, guest host Joanna Hayes is joined by fellow hurdles greats Gail Devers, Sally Pearson and Derval O'Rourke as they discuss the impact of athletics, memorable Olympic Games moments and more.
&ldquo;This is a sport that opened doors for us,&rdquo; says Devers, who won two Olympic 100m titles for the USA as well as numerous world gold medals in the hurdles, sprints and relay. &ldquo;When somebody opens a door for you, you&rsquo;re supposed to put your foot in it to bring somebody else along with you and World Athletics has allowed for us to do that from every level.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Like being in Doha and, you know, putting on little clinics for the kids. Starting them off, I was so excited about the little hurdles that they had out there. I was like: &lsquo;Oh no, these are cute. I need these back in the States&rsquo;. But it&rsquo;s giving back, it truly is. They allow for us to give back.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Track and field is probably the cheapest sport to be in and to be involved in but what you learn from being involved in track and field is what&rsquo;s going to take you to any arena in life. It&rsquo;s that &lsquo;never give up&rsquo; attitude.&rdquo; 
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 It&rsquo;s that attitude which O'Rourke hopes is instilled in her own daughter, too.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really interesting being a mum to a girl because I feel so strongly about women having their place in the world. Being heard, being seen,&rdquo; explains Ireland&rsquo;s 2006 world indoor 60m hurdles champion. &ldquo;I am always saying to her: &lsquo;If you have something to say, stand up and say it. Let your voice be heard.&rsquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny because she has no idea about me really as an athlete. People say to her randomly in Ireland: &lsquo;Oh, your mummy was fast&rsquo;. She&rsquo;ll just look at them really seriously and she&rsquo;ll say: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m faster&rsquo;. But she really believes it and I just run with it. I&rsquo;m like: &lsquo;Okay, you&rsquo;ve got me&rsquo;.
&ldquo;I feel like track and field, for me, gave me this area that just opened up the world to me as a woman. It just gave me all these opportunities. I feel like for her, it&rsquo;s really important to me that sports is of some part of her life in whatever way, shape or form to make her feel good about herself.&rdquo;
Having self-belief was also a big part of Pearson&rsquo;s Olympic journey.
&ldquo;The first part of my 2008 silver medal was even before I got to the Olympics,&rdquo; says Australia's two-time world and 2012 Olympic 100m hurdles champion.
&ldquo;I remember emailing my auntie who lives in England, because obviously we all need somewhere to stay when we go to Europe to do the circuit. She said to me: &lsquo;You can only stay here if you win an Olympic medal&rsquo;. I was like: &lsquo;Oh, okay&rsquo;.
"Obviously [she was] being sarcastic. But as soon as she said that it was like, &lsquo;huh&hellip;&rsquo;. Something just lit a fire in me and I was like &lsquo;okay, I&rsquo;m gonna do that&rsquo;. And it was almost like what Derval was saying about her World Indoors. It was like it was guaranteed in my head: &lsquo;I am going to do that, I know I can do that&rsquo;.&rdquo;
Download the full podcast for free via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/iaaf-inside-athletics-podcast/id1340268954?mt=2&amp;ls=1&amp;ign-mpt=uo%3D4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iTunes</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7vIXY6UZTkopeqoMsV4aQN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>.
All past episodes, including links to the podcast on a range of streaming platforms, can be found on&nbsp;<a href="https://audioboom.com/channels/4942781" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audioboom</a>.

World Athletics podcast – celebrating women in athletics

The latest installment of Athletics@Home features Australian sprint hurdler Sally Pearson, the 2012 Olympic and 2017 world champion.
Pearson, who is currently pregnant, takes us through her home workout.
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The latest installment of Athletics@Home features Australian sprint hurdler Sally Pearson, the 2012 Olympic and 2017 world champion.

Athletics@Home - Sally Pearson's home workout

When Sally Pearson crossed the line to take a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she let out a scream of equal parts elation and amazement. Moments later she gasped in a trackside interview: &ldquo;Oh, my God! You&rsquo;ve got to be kidding me, right. Is this real?&rdquo;
Give or take an exclamation mark or two, that&rsquo;s about the reaction of the Australian athletics community to the news this morning (6 August) that Pearson has called time on her career.
Oh, my God! You&rsquo;ve got to be kidding. Is this real.
To which the answers, in reverse order, are &ndash; &lsquo;yes&rsquo;; &lsquo;no, she&rsquo;s not&rsquo;; &lsquo;insert exclamation of your personal choice here&rsquo;. Pearson might have been kidding her fans with an earlier 1 April announcement she was switching to the heptathlon, but when it comes to Olympic Games and world championships she is, reliably, dead serious.
Pearson was Sally McLellan when she took the Olympic silver in Beijing. It was not quite the performance which revealed her to the world &ndash; not the athletics world, anyway. She had been a world youth (U18) champion in 2003, a Commonwealth Games finalist, and a world championships 2007 semi-finalist. She was the fifth-fastest entrant on season&rsquo;s times and Track &amp; Field News magazine ranked her seventh, a finalist, but not a medal contender.
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A year earlier, in an Osaka world championships preview for The Age, I had rated Pearson and discus thrower Dani Stevens (then Samuels) medal contenders &ldquo;by next year.&rdquo;
The Beijing performance, and the dramatic nature of the race in which the favourite, Lolo Jones of the USA, badly botched the second-last hurdle, propelled Pearson into the limelight. She has remained there ever since. Four years later, she won an Olympic gold at London 2012. The year before that, she had won the gold medal at the world championships in Daegu, a flawless display of hurdling leaving her rivals floundering.
Pearson ran her fastest-ever time in Daegu - 12.28 seconds &ndash; and, at the time, the fourth-fastest ever and fastest for 20 years. Her performance sparked a renaissance in the hurdles where times had stagnated in the 12.40-12.50 range until Pearson dragged them down again. At the world championships in Moscow two years later, Brianna Rollins of the US, who had run 12.26 to win the national collegiate title, beat the Australian into second place. The world record is currently held at 12.20 by another American, Kendra Harrison.
&nbsp;
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Sally Pearson winning the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympic Games</div>
&nbsp;
Even before Osaka, Pearson had demonstrated her ambition. At the 2003 world championships, a couple of months before her 17th birthday, she had run the 4x100 relay and put her hand up for the 4x400 when another athlete was injured. Ultimately, the team did not compete but neither Pearsons&rsquo; precocious talent, nor her willingness to put herself forward in a championship environment, went unnoticed.
The next few years was not all plain sailing as Pearson continued to combine flat sprints and hurdles. At U20 level, she won a bronze medal in the 100 at the world championships in 2004, but finished fourth in the hurdles. At the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, she finished seventh in the final of the flat event and then, devastatingly, fell and was disqualified in the hurdles final.
Osaka 2007 was her final attempt at combining the two events, at least at the highest level. Pearson ran 11.14 in the heats of the 100 &ndash; the second-fastest performance ever by an Australian behind Melinda Gainsford-Taylor&rsquo;s national record 11.12 set at high altitude; she was run out in the semi-finals, however, and suffered the same fate in the hurdles.
Pearson had one more attempt at combining individual events in the less intense environment of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. She &lsquo;won&rsquo; the flat 100 after running the final under protest at being disqualified for a false start. With the dismissal of her protest, Pearson&rsquo;s gold medal went out the window, too. She won the hurdles to compensate, then retained her title four years later in Glasgow.
&nbsp;
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Sally Pearson en route to the 2011 world title in Daegu</div>
&nbsp;
Injuries have been a factor throughout Pearson&rsquo;s career. She suffered severe back spasms just days before the Berlin 2009 world championships and finished fifth in the hurdles final. She missed the Rio 2016 Olympics and her hometown Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games with leg injuries. Most catastrophically, she broke her arm in a race fall in 2015 and missed the Beijing world championships.
Pearson had to rebuild her starting position, but returning to the London Olympic stadium, she won her second world championship gold medal in 2017. Again, it was her lightning start and near-perfect technique which got her home.
From junior days to London 2012, Pearson was coached by Sharon Hannan. Latterly, she has been self-coached, though she acknowledged strong support of team coaching staff in winning her second world championships gold medal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SIXTEEN YEARS TWO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS GOLD ONE OLYMPIC GOLD ONE WORLD INDOOR GOLD ONE WORLD U18 GOLD ONE CONTINENTAL CUP GOLD AND SO MANY UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS THANK YOU SALLY <a href="https://t.co/d8oFtoVxnN">pic.twitter.com/d8oFtoVxnN</a>
&mdash; IAAF (@iaaforg) <a href="https://twitter.com/iaaforg/status/1158664729486921728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Two final questions inevitably arise: why now, and where does Pearson rank amongst Australia&rsquo;s greatest female athletes.
To the first, Pearson said in her retirement announcement: &ldquo;I have prided myself on always being on the start line ready to win. I no longer believe I can achieve this.&rdquo; Simple as that.
The second is more contentious. Comparisons are always odious, especially across eras and when trying to measure shorter, more brilliant careers against longer ones of sustained, high-level consistency. Let&rsquo;s just say Sally Pearson belongs in, and brings a strong case to, the &ldquo;greatest ever&rdquo; conversation.
Len Johnson for the IAAF

When Sally Pearson crossed the line to take a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she let out a scream of equal parts elation and amazement. Moments later she gasped in a trackside interview: “Oh, my God! You’ve got to be kidding me, right. Is this real?”

Pearson, world champion and 2012 Olympic 100m hurdles gold medallist, retires

Mo Farah brought his track career to an end in the most fitting fashion, producing a dramatic 5000m victory at the Weltklasse Zurich on Thursday (24), the first of two 2017 IAAF Diamond League finals.
It was classic Farah and couldn&rsquo;t have been scripted better, a performance athletics fans around the world have come to expect from the two-time double Olympic and world champion, with the Briton emerging triumphant from a scrappy homestretch brawl that left a small pile of bodies on the ground in his wake.
Biding his time near the middle of the pack in the early stages, Farah worked his way to the front with about 1400 metres remaining, taking turns at the lead with Canada's Mohammed Ahmed. He positioned himself in front at the bell with Ethiopians Muktar Edris, the world champion, and Yomif Kejelcha shadowing him closely.
Paul Chelimo of the US joined the melee over the final half lap, turning the race into a four-man skirmish over the final 200 metres. Farah fought valiantly down the final straight, fighting off or charging back every move his opponents threw his way. Sprinting towards the line, eyeballs out and grimacing, he held firm, even in the blanket finish, to take the win in 13:06.05, just 0.04 ahead of Edris and Chelimo, who was later disqualified for obstruction.
"It was important to go out with a victory,&rdquo; Farah told the crowd, who were still on their feet clapping and paying tribute, several minutes after the race. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s every athlete&rsquo;s dream to go out this way.&rdquo;
&ldquo;But it was hard work,&rdquo; he added later. A job that was rewarded with his first Diamond Trophy.
It was the evening's longest race but only two were closer in the first IAAF Diamond League final contested under this year&rsquo;s new championship-style format which featured a prize pot of US$1.6 million with $50,000, along with a Diamond Trophy, going to the winners.
<h3>Photo finish wins for Pearson and Ujah</h3>
Farah&rsquo;s nail-biter was only outdone by a pair of contests that couldn&rsquo;t have been any closer.
Sally Pearson followed up her 100m hurdles World Championships victory with a narrow win over Sharika Nelvis after running down the American after the final barrier. Both were credited with 12.55 but the win, and a first Diamond Trophy, went to the Australian.
In the men's 100m, Chijindu Ujah of Great Britain held off Ben Youssef Meite&rsquo;s late race charge to end his breakout season with a Diamond Trophy. Both were timed at 9.97, with Ronnie Baker of the US finishing third in 10.01, 0.03 head of world champion Justin Gatlin.
<h3>Makwala dominates</h3>
Conversely, there was nothing close about Isaac Makwala&rsquo;s victory in the 400m. The Botswanan, who was sidelined from the event at the World Championships by illness, chiseled a clear lead by the midway point and entered the home straight alone en route to his 43.95 victory. His win was however made significantly easier by world silver medallist Stephen Gardiner&rsquo;s mishap at the start. At the gun, the slender Bahamian slipped from the blocks and fell flat on his chest, forced to watch his rivals run away while laying on the track.
Gil Roberts of the US was second in 44.54.
The 400m hurdles provided drama as well, but much of that came at the finish. As is rapidly becoming his trademark, world champion Karsten Warholm stormed to an early lead, holding it into the final bend. With fatigue setting in and the field chipping away at the gap behind him, the Norwegian stuttered badly as he approached the eighth hurdle, which provided an opening for his pursuers.
World leader Kyron McMaster took full advantage, catching Warholm and running past by the ninth hurdle and holding his ground through the line to end his breakout season as the Diamond Trophy winner. The British Virgin Islander won in 48.07 but Warholm fought on in the waning stages to clock 48.22 and chisel another 0.03 from his national record. Kaarien Hussein of Switzerland was third in 48.45, equaling his lifetime best.
<h3>Semenya extends unbeaten streak to 20</h3>
Meanwhile, Caster Semenya won her second straight 800m Diamond Trophy handily. Sixth at the bell, the South African worked her way to the front with just under 200m to go en route to a straightforward 1:55.84 win, about a second clear of Francine Niyonsaba and Kenyan Margaret Wambui, who clocked 1:56.71 and 1:56.87 respectively, to duplicate their finish at last year's Olympic Games. Semenya will end her 800m season with a 20-meeting win streak in her specialist event.
There was more Diamond Trophy success for South Africa in the men's long jump with Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai finishing 1-2. Manyonga, the world champion, sealed the victory with an 8.49m leap in round four to extend his unbeaten streak to 10. Ruswahl was second with 8.31m with Jarrion Lawson of the US third at 8.12m.
The men&rsquo;s javelin throw didn&rsquo;t quite go according to the playbook, but Jakub Vadlejch's victory can't necessary be considered an upset. The Czech illustrated strong consistency to claim his second successive Diamond Trophy, controlling the competition from his 88.50m toss in the second round. Olympic champion Thomas Rohler came closest, reaching 86.59 in round three with Finn Tero Pitkamaki third just two centimetres behind the German.
World champion and season leader Johannes Vetter never quite found his rhythm, reaching a best of 86.15m for fourth.
The second 2017 IAAF Diamond League final will take place at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels on Friday 1 September.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Mo Farah brought his track career to an end in the most fitting fashion, producing a dramatic 5000m victory at the Weltklasse Zurich on Thursday (24), the first of two 2017 IAAF Diamond League finals.

Farah ends track career with dramatic 5000m victory in Zurich - IAAF Diamond League

Five years ago Sally Pearson was on top of the world. The Australian 100m hurdler had just claimed the Olympic title in London, to add to the gold medal she won at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu the year before. She was the dominant force in sprint hurdling, and looked set to be the standard bearer for the event for many years to come.
Then it went so badly wrong. In 2013 she tore her hamstring twice, but managed to regain fitness in time to take the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships Moscow 2013. Then in 2015, a fall in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome left her with what doctors described as a bone explosion in her wrist, forcing her to miss the World Championships in Beijing that year. Her injury woes continued into 2016, when another hamstring tear ruled her out of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Such adversity would have been too much to take for many.
After all, she had achieved almost everything of note in the sport and had nothing left to prove. However, the determined Australian wouldn&rsquo;t give up the hope that one day she could make it back to the top step of the podium at a global championship, and last Saturday, in the same stadium that saw her finest hour in 2012, Pearson claimed the gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know how to feel, I&rsquo;m just numb at the moment,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The first thing that comes to my mind is that I&rsquo;m proud, so proud. Every single emotion you can think of that you hold in your body just came out over that finish line.&rdquo;
&ldquo;From 2013 onwards I&rsquo;ve had injuries year after year, so it was great to come out here knowing I haven&rsquo;t been injured this year and that I&rsquo;ve done everything I possibly can, and left no stone unturned to get here. I remember somebody telling me that I can become the world champion again and I didn&rsquo;t feel awkward about it.&rdquo;
<h3>KEEPING HER COOL</h3>
Entering the championships, USA&rsquo;s Kendra Harrison was seen as the overwhelming favourite to take gold in London. The world record holder had been in dominant form, clocking four of the six fastest times of 2017, including a world lead of 12.28. However, just like her semi-final, when she sneaked through as a fastest non-automatic qualifier, the US athlete clipped countless hurdles, enabling Pearson to come through to take victory in 12.59 seconds, with Harrison, in the lane beside her, finishing out of the medals in fourth.
&ldquo;I started saying to myself: &lsquo;she&rsquo;s hitting hurdles, she&rsquo;s hitting hurdles. Don&rsquo;t you get into that rhythm, don&rsquo;t you fall into hitting hurdles like her&rsquo;. I just had to stop focusing on what other athletes were doing and what they were achieving because I knew what I was capable of and I just had to believe in myself.&rdquo;
Having endured several years of severe injuries, the 30-year-old made a drastic change in August 2016, opting to coach herself in a bid to return to full fitness and to prevent suffering the same fate going forward.
&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t worried about writing the programme out,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I knew what I could and couldn&rsquo;t handle. It was just a matter of asking myself &lsquo;Am I going to do it right? Am I the right person to be doing this? Am I going to be able to listen to my body and be smart about it and look after it?&rsquo; I decided that I was just going to have to try, and if it doesn&rsquo;t work out in the first few months, then I could just try find somebody who can help.&rdquo;
Having achieved gold at the IAAF World Championships for the second time in her career, Pearson admits that, given what she has gone through to return to the top of her event, her success this year feels a little more special than her first triumph in Daegu six years ago.
&ldquo;I was winning every race going into Daegu,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;From a year out I was going to win those World Championships. Every medal is different and this one is very different to the rest of them, and feels particularly special. It felt a little like when I won silver at the 2008 Olympics with the pure excitement and celebration afterwards.&rdquo;
<h3>FUTURE PLANS</h3>
With the gold medal from London secured, along with the emotional investment required to achieve this goal, many would forgive Pearson for calling a halt to her season, and making the journey back to Australia earlier. However, she is determined to race in Europe regularly over the next few weeks. She intends to run in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich later this month, followed by the IAAF World Challenge meet in Berlin, before finishing her season at the Great City Games on the streets of Gateshead. But before all that, she has a rare outing over 100m on the flat to look forward to at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham this Sunday.
&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t my idea,&rdquo; she says with a smile. &ldquo;My agent and husband just put me in it and said to just go and do it. I don&rsquo;t have to train that way, and can just focus on another competition.&rdquo;
The Commonwealth Games being held on home soil in Gold Coast will be Pearson&rsquo;s focus for next year, but looking further ahead, she hasn&rsquo;t ruled out the possibility of continuing to compete until the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
&ldquo;I love the idea of going to a third Olympics, after missing out on Rio,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s another three years to go and it&rsquo;s just a matter of whether my body can handle it. I&rsquo;m 31 next month, so it&rsquo;s all about being smarter and looking after myself.&rdquo;
After her comeback in London, it would be foolhardy to write her off again.
James Sullivan for the IAAF

Five years ago Sally Pearson was on top of the world. The Australian 100m hurdler had just claimed the Olympic title in London, to add to the gold medal she won at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu the year before. She was the dominant force in sprint hurdling, and looked set to be the standard bearer for the event for many years to come.

Pearson's golden moment all the greater after injury heartache

Sally Pearson has starred as one of the world&rsquo;s premier sprint hurdlers over the past decade, winning world and Olympic titles in her speciality event. Here the Australian recalls her memories of competing at the 2003 World U18 Championships in Sherbrooke &ndash; then the IAAF World Youth Championships &ndash; the competition where she first made her mark internationally as a wide-eyed 16-year-old.
<h3>Before</h3>
Sally Pearson (then McLellan) had shown her star potential for some time before her appearance at the 2003 IAAF World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada.
Aged 14, she won the Australian U20 100m in a swift 11.91 only for a stress fracture of the foot later that year to derail her development. Working patiently on strengthening her feet and ankles was later to pay dividends. By 2003 the Australian was flying.
That year Pearson set PBs for the 100m (11.57), 200m (24.00) and 100m hurdles (13.57) prior to the World Youth Championships. Her major dilemma was which two events to target.
&ldquo;Each meeting I always wanted to do lots of events and I remember my coach at the time saying I had to choose two events between hurdles, 100m and 200m and that the 200m and hurdles were my best option.&rdquo;
She heeded the advice and even with a third event &ndash; the medley relay &ndash; on the agenda, the overwhelming emotion she felt when leaving the airport for Canada was excitement.
&ldquo;I remember receiving my first Australian uniform and taking photos of it because it had Australia written on the back,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;Getting on the big plane to go to San Francisco (en route) to Sherbrooke was such a big deal.&rdquo;
<h3>During</h3>
Intending to race across three events spanning three days of the competition schedule presented its logistical challenges for the 16-year-old Queenslander. However, the versatile athlete admits she was lucky to have Penny Gillies on the Australian coaching team to iron out any potential pitfalls.
&ldquo;Penny wrote down an hour-by-hour programme of what I needed to do in each competition,&rdquo; explains Pearson. &ldquo;She told me what time I should walk on the track, what time I needed to start my warm up, what time I needed a drink. She even advised me where I could to take a ramp instead because walking upstairs is more fatiguing. It was fantastic to have her by my side guiding me through the competition. It took the pressure off organising myself.&rdquo;
Her first day of competition on 11 July saw Pearson successfully advance through the heats of the 200m and opening round and semi-finals of the 100m hurdles. She secured victory in all three races, setting PBs in the 200m (23.88) and 100m hurdles (13.14) to enjoy an excellent first day of action. But with four races scheduled the following day, there was no time to relax.
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In her second day of competition, Pearson opened her account in the 200m semi-finals by placing second behind USA's Cleo Tyson in a time of 24.10 to advance to the final later that day but there was to be frustration in the medley relay as the Australian quartet was disqualified for taking the baton outside of the exchange zone.
&ldquo;I ran the 200m leg and I seemed to be running for a long time,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;I later found out the girl I&rsquo;d handed the baton to was out of the exchange zone which was disappointing, because I&rsquo;d worked bloody hard.&rdquo;
Still, Pearson had no time to sulk as later that day she competed in her sixth race in two days with her final of the 100m hurdles. As the fastest qualifier, she was the undoubted favourite, but there were no guarantees.
&ldquo;I just remember being on the start line feeling so tired,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;Coming off the last hurdles I could see LaToya Greaves of Jamaica right in my eye line and I just had the power to get me to the finish line first.&rdquo;
Pearson had struck gold by a victory margin of 0.07 in 13.42. &ldquo;It was a great feeling to say I was world champion.&rdquo;
She then rushed to the second call room in time for the 200m final which took place just 40 minutes later &ndash; for what was her seventh race in two days &ndash; without a care in the world.
&ldquo;I had this smile on my face and I think my 200m rivals were wondering what I was so happy about!&rdquo;
Pearson placed fifth in the final in 24.01 behind Jamaica&rsquo;s Anneisha McLaughlin, her gruelling workload for the week complete.
<h3>After</h3>
Pearson has, of course, gone on to enjoy a stellar career, winning the 2011 world 100m hurdles title and the 2012 Olympic crown. Yet competing and excelling at those 2003 championships in Sherbrooke proved a pivotal chapter in her glittering career.
&ldquo;Competing in Sherbrooke gave me the confidence to believe that I could be competitive and the confidence that one day I could go to the Olympics,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;It taught me to dream big.&rdquo;
As for the competitors in July&rsquo;s IAAF World U18 Championships, she would encourage them to embrace every second of the experience just as she did at the same competition 14 years ago.
&ldquo;I would say, take the opportunity to learn something,&rdquo; says Pearson. &ldquo;You are only that young, innocent, that excitable once. The World U18 Championships are an amazing journey and you will keep those memories stored forever.&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF

Sally Pearson has starred as one of the world’s premier sprint hurdlers over the past decade, winning world and Olympic titles in her speciality event. Here the Australian recalls her memories of competing at the 2003 World U18 Championships in Sherbrooke – then the IAAF World Youth Championships – the competition where she first made her mark internationally as a wide-eyed 16-year-old.

World U18 memories – Sally Pearson 

As the 2011 world and 2012 Olympic champion, Sally Pearson is among the finest sprint hurdlers on the planet. But the Australian superstar&rsquo;s career has not been plain sailing; here she talks about how taking on and committing to being self-coached has proven to be her greatest challenge.
<h3>The decision to go it alone</h3>
&ldquo;For a long time, I had wondered about the possibility of being self-coached. I have a coaching certificate and in the past I had coached young kids, which was fun. Yet I had always doubted myself as to whether I could coach myself because I was fully aware of the effort and commitment needed to be an elite coach.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I had suffered the hamstring tear and I was struggling to decide if I wanted to stay in the sport when I took a flight from Sydney back home to Gold Coast and I watched the story of Lydia Lassila, the 2010 Olympic aerial skiing gold medallist. I was inspired by that film and all the injuries and surgeries she had been through and I thought, I only have a hamstring injury for goodness sake. I know I can get back from that. Watching that video, I got off the plane and said; I&rsquo;m staying in athletics, I&rsquo;m going to start training and coach myself. By coincidence I started officially coaching myself on the first day of the athletics programme at the Rio Olympics.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I believe being self-coached has allowed me to train a lot smarter by listening to my body. I&rsquo;m also quite lucky in that my husband, Kieran, films me on his phone and we send that to a biomechanist I&rsquo;ve worked with for many years even including in 2011 and 2012 when I was at my very best. Yet the role does present its challenges. I recall during the recent indoor season running 8.03 in my 60m hurdles heat in Berlin. I was very disappointed with the performance because I&rsquo;d just come back from Karlsruhe having run both 7.91 in the heat and final. I had no coach to turn to but myself, so I had to take a deep breath, say it was a little hiccup and not to worry about it. I just needed to focus on my start and getting out quickly over the first few hurdles. I ran 7.91 for third in the final and that is the moment when I learned I needed to reassure yourself, not to freak out and just fine tune elements of my race.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m also going through a challenge at the moment in terms of my training ahead of the European summer season. Between September and December I did my general preparation phase for the Australian season and now I face the challenge of not losing the speed I have gained during the Australian season but also adding a lot of the strength and endurance work that the Northern Hemisphere athletes have probably already been working on while I was competing in the Australian summer season. It has been difficult writing a programme to gain that balance, but I know how I feel from one session to the next and I have been making decisions on the back of this.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was fortunate to receive massive reassurance I had made the right decision to coach myself after running 12.53 (windy) to win the Australian Championships (in April).&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF

As the 2011 world and 2012 Olympic champion, Sally Pearson is among the finest sprint hurdlers on the planet. But the Australian superstar’s career has not been plain sailing; here she talks about how taking on and committing to being self-coached has proven to be her greatest challenge.

My greatest challenge – Sally Pearson

There have been tears aplenty for Sally Pearson over the past two years.
Tears of pain and anguish when she badly fractured her wrist in a fall at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome two years ago. Tears of frustration when successive hamstring and achilles tendon injuries ended her campaign to defend her Olympic 100m hurdles title in Rio last year.
But there were tears of joy at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday (2) as Pearson crowned a successful comeback at the Australian Championships. Better yet, she achieved a World Championships qualifying time in winning her heat in 12.74 seconds (1.6m/s) which made up for a slight strong tailwind of 2.3m/s invalidating her 12.54 in the final some 90 minutes later.
In more normal times, Pearson might have been a touch chagrined at such a turn of fate. But this time, after such a long road back, she could not have cared less.
Actually, it was hard to say because for several minutes Pearson could not find any words. Having hugged ground announcer Tamsyn Lewis Manou, she was overcome with emotion. Twice she made a start to answering the first question, twice she fell silent, struggling to maintain her composure.
When Pearson was able to speak, words came in a torrent. Mostly words thanking her support group, her friend &ndash; &ldquo;you know who you are&rdquo; &ndash; and the fans.
With Sydney in the grip of an unseasonal cold spell for the four days of the senior championships, the sprints were moved to the back-straight to avoid the strong headwinds. Bad for the paying spectator, perhaps, but there were no complaints when Pearson became the main beneficiary.
<h3>Twenty in first selection tranche for London</h3>
Pearson also secured a place on the team for the IAAF World Championships London 2017, one of 16 athletes named after the first phase of the Australian selection process. Race walkers Dane Bird-Smith, Rhydian Cowley, Regan Lamble and Beki Smith have already been named in the 20km.
Fabrice Lapierre and Patrick Tiernan are both qualified through performances in IAAF competitions. Lapierre was the Diamond Race winner in the long jump last year while Tiernan&rsquo;s top-15 finish at last weekend&rsquo;s IAAF World Cross Country Championships Kampala 2017 counts as a qualifying mark for the 10,000m.
Earning automatic selection as Australian champions who have also achieved the standard were Kurtis Marschall in the pole vault, shot putter Damien Birkinhead, javelin thrower Hamish Peacock and decathlete Cedric Dubler.
Besides Pearson, sprinters Ella Nelson (200m) and Morgan Mitchell (400m), 400m hurdler Lauren Wells, discus thrower Dani Stevens (nee Samuels) and javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Roberts were also named. Completing the first phase were Eloise Wellings (10,000m), Nina Kennedy (pole vault), Olympic 50km race walk silver medallist Jared Tallent and fellow 50km race walker Chris Erickson.
<h3>New Zealand and Papua New Guinea pinch sprint titles</h3>
Joseph Millar and Toea Wisil won sprint doubles. Though she represents Papua New Guinea, Wisil is eligible to win the titles as she is an Australia-registered athlete.
New Zealander Millar, who won his own national title in 10.18, produced a solid 10.25 to defeat Trae Williams (10.29) in the men&rsquo;s 100m and took the 200m in 21.09 (-3.1m/s), a metre to the good of Alex Hartman.
Wisil won the 100m over Melissa Breen, 11.42 to 11.64, then caused a boilover by defeating Olympic semi-finalist Ella Nelson in the 200m, 23.76 to 23.91 (-2.4m/s). Wisil&rsquo;s start gave her an early advantage and she held that up the straight as Nelson struggled into the wind.
Another Olympic semi-finalist, Morgan Mitchell, won the 400m in 52.08 while Steve Solomon, who is determined to make a return to the city in which he made the Olympic final, won the men&rsquo;s in 46.66.
<h3>Stevens and Peacock star in throwing events</h3>
Dani Stevens scarcely needed another national title to attract attention; 10 years of performances at or near the top of women&rsquo;s discus has earned her that distinction. But in the cold and windy conditions of the final day she won her 16th throws title with a distance of 65.07m.
Stevens has been in fine domestic form going into Sunday&rsquo;s competition, twice throwing beyond 66 metres so far this far. But the win was especially meritorious in much the worst of a fairly ordinary day.
&ldquo;It was challenging with the wind and the rain,&rdquo; said the 2009 world champion. &ldquo;I made a big effort to refocus with each throw. This weather is possible in London so I wanted to make sure I&rsquo;m ready for it.&rdquo;
It was not much better when Peacock competed in the javelin. After a disappointing performance in Rio, the Tasmanian has returned to top form. He had three throws beyond the World Championships qualifier of 83m with a best of 84.36m, just three centimetres shy of his personal best.
Olympic shot put finalist Damien Birkinhead ensured he would be in London later in the year, winning with a put of 19.80m.
On the Saturday night, Kelsey-Lee Roberts made up for a series of recent near misses when she won the women&rsquo;s javelin with 61.40m, exactly equal to the World Championships qualifier.
<h3>Gregson stands out in middle distances</h3>
The middle-distances turned into largely tactical affairs.
Olympic finalist Ryan Gregson produced a 53-second final lap to take the men&rsquo;s 1500m in 3:52.86 from Matthew Ramsden, while Lora Storey controlled the women&rsquo;s 800m to win in 2:03.56 from Anneliese Rubie and Georgia Griffith. Heidi See won the women&rsquo;s 1500m in 4:23.99 from Zoe Buckman and Linden Hall who took off shortly before the bell but could not hold off the first two.
The best, and relatively the quickest, race came in the men&rsquo;s 800m where home-town favourite Joshua Ralph looked to have won when he headed defending champion Luke Mathews in the straight. Somehow Mathews found the spirit to push back through on the inside and thrust his chest to the line in first place, 1:46.71 to 1:46.76.
<h3>Marschall clinches final, but fails at new PB</h3>
Kurtis Marschall was another to experience the worst of the conditions on the final day, winning the pole vault when he was the only competitor clear at 5.45m. He had the bar put up to 5.75m, which would have been a personal best, but failed to clear the height.
New Zealand&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney cleared 4.50m to win the women&rsquo;s pole vault on Saturday night.
Cedric Dubler completed a back-to-back double in the men&rsquo;s decathlon on the first two days of the senior competition, finishing with 7779. While he fell short of last year&rsquo;s performance of 8114, Dubler&rsquo;s score was the 13th best ever by an Australian.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for a top-eight performance in London, and I know it&rsquo;s definitely there within my reach,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m able to nail each of my events individually, it&rsquo;s certainly possible.&rdquo;
Len Johnson for the IAAF

There have been tears aplenty for Sally Pearson over the past two years.

Tears of joy as Pearson crowns successful comeback at Australian Championships

Sally Pearson of Australia and Swede Susanna Kallur have been added to a high power women's 60m hurdles field at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on 4 February, the third stop of the 2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour.
Kallur, a two-time European indoor 60m hurdles champion, will return to the venue where she set the world record in the event with a 7.68 run at the meeting's 2008 edition. The 35-year-old, who also claimed bronze in the event at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships, has struggled with injury since 2008, but made a notable comeback last season outdoors when she competed in the 100m hurdles for the first time since 2010.
Pearson, the 2012 Olympic 100m hurdles champion, also won the world indoor 60m hurdles title that year clocking 7.73 to equal the fourth fastest performance of all-time. In 2014, she took world indoor silver in Sopot. Pearson, 30, is also on the rebound from an injury that sidelined her from an attempt to defend her Olympic title in Rio last summer.
The pair will take on European 100m hurdles champion Cindy Roleder of Germany, who was previously announced. The women's 60m hurdles isn&rsquo;t a scoring event in this year&rsquo;s World Indoor Tour, but meeting director Alain Blondel added the event to give Roleder a world class line-up on home turf.
"The track in Karlsruhe is very fast, world-class - and personal best performances should be possible and are also my goal," Roleder said.
The men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles, 1500m, long jump and high jump, plus the women&rsquo;s 60m, 800m, 3000m, pole vault and shot put will be the World Indoor Tour scoring events in Karlsruhe.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar 28 Jan &ndash; Boston, USA 1 Feb &ndash; Dusseldorf, GER 4 Feb &ndash; Karlsruhe, GER 10 Feb &ndash; Torun, POL 18 Feb &ndash; Birmingham, GBR

Sally Pearson of Australia and Swede Susanna Kallur of Sweden have been added to a high power women's 60m hurdles field at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on 4 February, the third stop of the 2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour.

Pearson and Kallur join Karlsruhe hurdles field

Early season 100m hurdles sensation Kendra Harrison heads the field of her specialist event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on 16 June, organisers of the Bauhaus-Galan announced on Wednesday (25).
Harrison opened her 2016 outdoor season in stunning fashion last month by clocking 12.36 in Athens, USA. Her time on the University of Georgia track elevated her to equal-ninth on the world all-time list and makes her the fifth-fastest US woman ever.
Notably, no other hurdler has run this fast so early in the year and it was also the fastest ever wind-legal season-opener by a 100m hurdler.
Since then, Harrison has sped to times of 12.56 and 12.42 in her other two races, also faster than anyone else in the world this year.
She will be joined by three US compatriots in the Swedish capital in three weeks&rsquo; time: Kristi Castlin, who is currently second on the 2016 world list with 12.62, two-time world indoor 60m hurdles champion Nia Ali, and Queen Harrison.
But in terms of local attention, Harrison is likely to be overshadowed by the comeback of Sweden&rsquo;s 2006 European champion Susanna Kallur, who will be competing in her first 100m hurdles race since 2010.
Kallur, who is also the 60m hurdles world indoor record-holder, is looking to make the Rio 2016 Olympic Games team.
"I have only a couple of opportunities to qualify" said Kallur. "I have never been in that kind of alarming situation before. I am approaching the end of my journey. It is really nerve-wracking."
Kallur met one of her successors to the European 100m hurdles crown, Belarusian Alina Talay, during a training camp in Florida this spring and got an unexpected opportunity to test her competitive shape.
"We tried out over six hurdles and I was surprised that I maintained her level," said Kallur.
The world bronze medallist will have the chance to race Kallur again as she&rsquo;ll also be in Stockholm.
In addition, Australia&rsquo;s Olympic champion Sally Pearson will continue on the comeback trail after her dramatic and horrifying wrist and arm injury after falling at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome last year.
Pearson won on home soil at Gold Coast in 12.75 on Saturday, her first race in 11 months.&nbsp;
Organisers for the IAAF
2016 IAAF Diamond League calendar 6 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 14 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 22 May &ndash; Rabat, MAR 28 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 2 Jun &ndash; Rome, ITA 5 Jun &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 9 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 16 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 15 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 22-23 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 25 Aug &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 27 Aug &ndash; Paris, FRA 1 Sep &ndash; Zurich, SUI 9 Sep &ndash; Brussels, BEL

Early season 100m hurdles sensation Kendra Harrison heads the field of her specialist event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on 16 June, organisers of the Bauhaus-Galan announced on Wednesday (25).

Harrison heads 100m hurdles field in Stockholm as Kallur returns – IAAF Diamond League

Athletics Australia selectors have declared a selection of 32 athletes bound for the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 in August.Headlined by javelin thrower Kim Mickle and race walker Jared Tallent, who both won medals at the championships two years ago, the squad also includes Commonwealth champions Eleanor Patterson, Alana Boyd and Dani Samuels, as well as Australian record-holders Melissa Breen and Alex Rowe.Set to join them are a handful of winners from the recent Australian Championships, including Commonwealth Games finalist Jeff Riseley, 2012 world junior 110m hurdles silver medallist Nicholas Hough, 2010 Youth Olympic Games high jump silver medallist Brandon Starc, two-time NCAA discus champion Julian Wruck, sprinter Ella Nelson and 400m hurdler Lauren Wells.&ldquo;The intention of the selection policy is to nominate the most competitive possible team to represent Australia, and following the Nationals this past weekend it is exciting to announce the initial selections for Beijing 2015,&rdquo; said Dion Russell, the Athletics Australia chairman of selectors.Any late additions to the team will be considered at the final selectors meeting on 10 August.The 15th edition of the IAAF World Championships will be held in Beijing on 22-30 August 2015. It will mark the return of international athletics to the Bird&rsquo;s Nest for the first time since the 2008 Olympic Games.The Australian team at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow was 46-strong, and won three medals (two silver, one bronze). Two years earlier in Daegu, the squad placed eighth on the medal table with one gold (Pearson, 100m hurdles), one silver (Mitchell Watt, long jump) and one bronze (Tallent, 50km race walk).Athletics Australia will prepare for Beijing at a team camp in the Japanese city of Wakayama, with the first contingent of athletes and team staff to arrive in the host city on 19 August.Athletics Australia for the IAAF<h3>Australian team for Beijing 2015</h3>MEN 800m: Jeff Riseley, Alex Rowe 10,000m: Ben St Lawrence 110m hurdles: Nicholas Hough High jump: Joel Baden, Brandon Starc Discus: Julian Wruck Javelin: Hamish Peacock 20km race walk: Chris Erickson, Dane Bird-Smith, Jared Tallent 50km race walk: Chris Erickson, Jared TallentWOMEN 100m: Melissa Breen 200m: Ella Nelson 5000m: Eloise Wellings 100m hurdles: Michelle Jennek 400m hurdles: Lauren Wells 3000m steeplechase: Madeline Heiner, Victoria Mitchell Marathon: Julia Degan, Sinead Diver, Sarah Klein High jump: Eleanor Patterson Pole vault: Alana Boyd, Nina Kennedy Long jump: Brooke Stratton Discus: Dani Samuels Javelin: Kim Mickle, Kathryn Mitchell, Kelsey-Lee Roberts 20km race walk: Tanya Holliday, Beki Smith, Rachel Tallent

Athletics Australia selectors have declared a selection of 32 athletes bound for the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 in August.