By Michael Gleeson
Sally Pearson's long road back from injury will bypass the biggest new thing in Australian athletics and take her straight to Europe instead.
The champion hurdler has turned down offers to be part of the new Usain Bolt-backed Nitro athletics series where she was hoped to be appointed captain of the Australian team. She will instead fly to Europe for her first series races since injury.
Europe bound: Sally Pearson is focused on London next year.Credit: Getty Images
The move is a disappointment for the new athletics series with Pearson opting for high quality races overseas rather than the proudly entertainment-first concept of Nitro.
Pearson hopes to return to peak fitness to compete at her first major championship in three years at the London World championships next year after missing the Rio Olympics this year and the Beijing World championships the year before.
Last month Pearson indicated it was most likely a matter of agreeing contract terms with Nitro for her to compete but she did add at the time that she had to decide what was best for her preparation for London.
"I would like to be a part of it but it's just a matter of whether we can all agree on the contract. At the end of the day if it is not for me, it's not for me," she said.
"I'm an individual athlete and I'm coming back from a couple of serious injuries so I have to make sure that my body is going to hold up through to the world championships next year."
She missed Rio with a torn hamstring that ame after she had laboured with Achilles problems and the year earlier she was recovering from a shattered wrist broken when she fell while racing in Rome.
Pearson won silver in the 100m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 before winning the world title at Daegu in South Korea in 2011 and the Olympic title the following year in London.