Teenage sprint sensation Jack Hale will be swung to the back straight on Thursday night setting up the tantalising prospect of him going head-to-head with Usain Bolt.

Sally Pearson's long-time rival, American Dawn Harper-Nelson, has been suspended for three months after testing positive for a banned substance.

The governing body of world athletics (IAAF) has put an immediate stop to changes of nationality by athletes, saying the system has become open to abuse and that rules are being manipulated.

Usain Bolt headed to Sydney next year? You bet, if the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust has anything to do with it.

Nitro's opening night was a qualified success, the new concept living to its promise to be inventive new fresh and entertaining.

While Australia focused on Usain Bolt at the Nitro Athletics, on the other side of the world the country's former world and Olympic champion Sally Pearson finished third at an indoor meet in Germany in her first serious step back on the road from injury.

The question to be asked when you bringing out the fastest man ever is: who do you get to run against him?

Usain Bolt can't remember the last time he was running in February, he is normally in the doctor's hands not the starter's, but he hopes that his farewell year competing in Nitro this week will help set him up to leave the sport in London with three more gold medals.

Pivoting one way on his swivel chair, eight-times Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt said that if only he had been more dedicated when he was young, he might have achieved so much more. "I was reckless," he said.

Usain Bolt's presence for Nitro athletics has ensured that Channel Seven will broadcast the series – on Saturday night it will be live in Sydney and Perth but in Melbourne it will be on delay after the AFL women's match.

Not for the first time Usain Bolt needs to be his sport's saviour. For the sake of athletics he has to be.

Nitro. Everything you need to know.

Not many people come within a fingernail of Olympic gold and don't at least win silver. Jarrion Lawson did.

It's easy to be phlegmatic when you have so many Olympic gold medals already and you lose one to something that was not your fault.

An email by IAAF president Sebastian Coe, apparently showing he was aware of an alleged Russian doping scandal, has raised the question of whether he misled a British parliamentary committee.

Christine Ohuruogu can laugh about it now. The last time she ran in Melbourne she finished first and last.

The longest recorded running streak in history ended on Saturday when England's Ron Hill completed a one-mile run.

From Beyonce to Rio, Olympic gold medallist and dancer Kerron Clement is the perfect athlete entertainer to complement Usain Bolt in Nitro on Saturday night.

Anneliese Rubie was getting lonely. Having joined forces with Melbourne-based coach Peter Fortune at the end of 2014, they had initially decided it was best for the 400m runner to stay in Sydney as she finished her arts degree at Sydney University.