Sally Pearson out to prove she can coach herself

Sally Pearson has proved herself as an athlete many times over but she still needs to prove herself as a coach.

Sally Pearson speaks during the AAP Sports Editors Conference in Sydney yesterday

Olympic 100m hurdles gold medallist Sally Pearson has proved herself as an athlete many times over, but as the national championships begin in Sydney today she says she still needs to prove herself as a coach.

Pearson decided in August to coach herself as she returned from a hamstring tear that cost her a third Olympic appearance in Rio, and this will be the first big test of her new training set-up. Pearson, 30, said she had “a bit of a strange feeling’’ going into the national titles.

“I am excited to be there but I’m quite nervous because it’s the first time I have raced a big meet in Australia for quite some time,’’ she said.

Sunday’s 100m hurdles final will pit her against national champion Michelle Jenneke, now working with Pearson’s former coach Ash Mahoney.

Jenneke said after winning at the Canberra Grand Prix three weeks ago (12.99sec) that she believed she could retain her title even with Pearson in the field.

Pearson responded to that challenge by running the fastest 100m hurdles of the domestic season, 12.91sec, in her final lead-up race. The 2012 Olympic champion said her priority was earning selection for the world championships in London.

She will need to finish in the top two and run faster than 12.98sec to secure her place.

“For me, this weekend is very important. After this weekend, I will have a lot clearer mind going into London.’’

Pearson revealed that she has been thinking about coaching herself for “a number of years’’.

“I just didn’t believe it was possible with the personality I have, being a perfectionist,’’ she said. “(But) I have really surprised myself with how far I have come and how fast I am running and how good a shape my body is in.’’

Pearson said she had “conversations’’ with herself throughout her training sessions.

She is one of the few world-class athletes who coaches herself, but she does have support from national head coach Craig Hilliard and the biomechanics team at the Queensland Academy of Sport.

She said she was looking forward to proving wrong those who doubted her decision.

“I still have to prove myself as a coach,’’ she said. “I think I have calmed down as an athlete and I’m listening to my coach, and I think one of the reasons I can do that is that I know my program, I know what I have in the near future and what I’ve planned for myself.’’

Next year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast shapes as an obvious swansong for Pearson in her hometown, but she said she would dearly love to get one last Olympic appearance in Tokyo in 2020.

“Before I got injured before Rio, I thought it would be nice to do four Olympics and I was thinking about Tokyo, and I still am,’’ she said.

But she’s not looking too far ahead, given her extensive injury history in the past four years.

“I want to get to nationals, I want to qualify for worlds and then it’s about getting to the Commonwealth Games and then the next step,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, budding sprint star Riley Day completed the under 18 100m-200m double at the junior nationals yesterday, breaking Jana Pittman’s meet record as she ran a personal best of 23.26sec.