Sally Pearson pulls out of Queensland titles and Queensland Track classic

Sally Pearson has pulled out of two Queensland meets this month in a schedule change her camp says is not due to injury.

Sally Pearson is taking a measured approach to her return to the track. Picture AAP

Sally Pearson has pulled out of two Queensland meets this month in a schedule change her camp says is not due to injury.

Pearson, 32, had entered the 100m hurdles at the Queensland titles in Brisbane on Sunday and the Queensland Track Classic on March 23, but will compete at neither.

Pearson’s manager Robert Joske said there had been no injury setback and the self-coached dual world champion had decided there was no need to run.

“Everything is under control. She put her name down for these meets purely as options,’’ Joske said.

“To run back-to-back this stage of the year is pointless.’’

Her two races at the state titles were to have been her first hurdles races since an Achilles tendon injury forced her out of the Commonwealth Games last April at the Gold Coast.

It’s a departure in plans for Pearson, who said last Saturday that she wanted racing after her frustrating 2018.

But Pearson is well aware that she is already on Australia’s world championships team with a wildcard entry from the world governing body.

Sally Pearson is taking a measured approach to her return to the track. Picture AAP

If there is one year in which a patchy domestic season attendance record was not important, it is this one as Pearson’s heats of the 100m hurdles at the Doha world championships are not until early October.

Uncertainty remains about her readiness for next month’s Australian championships in Sydney.

“It’s like the other two, on the schedule. We are going to use the flexibility we have,’’ Joske said.

Dual 100m hurdles world champion Pearson won a 100m flat race at the University of Queensland last Saturday, almost 12 months to the day since her last race.

The 32-year-old clocked an encouraging 11.57 sec into a 1.4 m/sec headwind, indicating she was well advanced in her acquisition of speed in her training.

“We’re obviously a bit disappointed to not see Sally compete at the Queensland Track Classic, however she has our full support in doing what she needs to do to best prepare for the World Championships and Olympics,’’ Queensland Athletics CEO David Gynther said.

“Sally knows better than any one what needs to be done to win the world events.”

Alex Hartmann expects to have opposition from national 100m champion Trae Williams and Townsville teen star Jake Doran in his hunt for more state athletics titles this weekend.

Hartmann and Doran have both entered the 100m, which have heats tonight, and the 200m at the state titles at Nathan’s State Athletics Facility.

Doran, 18, moved to sixth all-time on the Australian 100m list with his brilliant 10.15 sec at the under-20 world titles in Finland in July which erased Jack Hale’s Oceania record.