Athletic Australia – PEARSON IN ROME

To be joined by her fellow IAAF World Championships silver medallist Kim Mickle (WA), who will compete in the women’s javelin, the Australian and Oceania 100m hurdles record holder Pearson will take to the competition arena with her sights set on a performance that matches her season best run of 12.59 at the Go for 2&5 Perth Track Classic in February.

“I’m looking forward to Rome as it will be the first test of my training program. I am hoping that my time will be the same or better than what I ran in Perth,” Pearson, who will duel with likes of world champion Brianna Rollins (USA), the IAAF World Indoor Championships bronze medallist Tiffany Porter (GBR), said.

“Training has been fantastic and I think I have probably trained better than I expected. I got back in to training after the Nationals pretty easily and touch wood my run without niggles continues.”

Pearson will compete at the Golden Gala after a strong domestic campaign that include an unbeaten run in the women’s 100m hurdles, a national crown in the same event (as well as the 100m) and her fastest ever season opening time in the sprint hurdles. She also won silver in the 60m hurdles at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Mickle has also enjoyed an outstanding start to her 2014 season. She eclipsed the longstanding Australian javelin record at the IAAF Melbourne World Challenge in March to boast a new personal best of 66.83m, won the national crown with a 64.28m throw and most recently placed second at Round 1 of the IAAF Diamond League in Doha (QAT).

For more information on Round 4 of the IAAF Diamond League, please click here.

In other IAAF Diamond League news, the Australian triple jump champion Linda Leverton (Qld) has been added to the event at the New York (USA) instalment of the 14-meet series later this month. She joins Pearson, Liz Parnov (WA) and Benn Harradine (Qld) on the list of Australian starters.

This event will follow the FBK Games in Hengelo (NED), where Zoe Buckman (Vic) will compete in the women’s 1500m less than a fortnight after she broke her personal best in the women’s 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene (USA). Together with Ryan Gregson (NSW) and Collis Birmingham (Vic), the IAAF World Championships finalist has now relocated to her European base in Teddington (GBR) where she will meet training partners Brett Robinson (ACT) and Genevieve LaCaze (Qld).

COMMONWEALTH GAMES UPDATE:
Athletics Australia can confirm that we have today submitted our list of nominees to the Australian Commonwealth Games Association for their ratification and official selection to the Australian team for Glasgow 2014. The announcement of the selected team is scheduled for release tomorrow.

June 5: IAAF Diamond League (Round 4) – Rome (ITA)
100m hurdles: Sally Pearson (Qld)
Javelin: Kim Mickle (WA)

Round 4 of the IAAF Diamond League will be broadcast LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on EUROSPORT (Channel 511) from 4:00am AEST, Friday 6 June 2014

June 8: FBK Games – Hengelo (NED)
1500m: Zoe Buckman (Vic)
Discus throw: Benn Harradine (Qld)

June 11: IAAF Diamond League (Round 5) – Oslo (NOR)
5000m: Collis Birmingham (Vic), Ben St Lawrence (NSW)

Round 5 of the IAAF Diamond League will be broadcast LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on EUROSPORT (Channel 511) from 4:00am AEST, Thursday 12 June 2014

June 14: IAAF Diamond League (Round 6) – New York (USA)
100m hurdles: Sally Pearson (Qld)
Triple jump: Linda Leverton (Qld)
Pole vault: Liz Parnov (WA)
Discus throw: Benn Harradine (Qld)

Round 6 of the IAAF Diamond League will be broadcast LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on EUROSPORT (Channel 511) from 6:00am AEST, Sunday 15 June 2014

June 17: 53rd Golden Spike – Ostrava (CZE)
1000m: Jeff Riseley (Vic)
2000m: Zoe Buckman (Vic)
3000m: Collis Birmingham (Vic), Ben St Lawrence (NSW)

 

Athletic Australia