Missing out: Australia’s Sally Pearson (right) was edged out for place in the 60m hurdles final © AFP / Ben STANSALL
BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, Mar 3 – Australian star Sally Pearson’s Commonwealth Games preparations suffered a blip Saturday as she missed out on the world indoor 60m hurdles final by one-hundredth of a second.
Pearson, the defending world outdoor 100m hurdles champion and 2012 Olympic gold medallist, clocked 7.92 seconds in finishing third in her semi-final.
It was not enough to ensure her one of the two fastest times behind the two automatic qualifiers from each of the three heats.
It was heart-breaking for Pearson who has battled back from four serious injuries in 12 months to win in London last year, an achievement she described as her “proudest moment”.
Having broken an arm in the Rome Diamond League meet in 2015, she then sustained a hamstring injury a year later that saw her miss the Rio Olympics.
But she was not left too despondent by her failure to qualify for the final.
“For me it was about coming here to get this quality racing before the Commonwealth Games, which I just can’t get in Australia,” Pearson said of the Gold Coast event that starts next month.
Three Americans make the eight-strong line-up for the final slated for 8:55 pm (2055 GMT) — 100m hurdles world record holder Kendra Harrison, Christina Manning and Sharika Nelvis.
They will be accompanied by Dutch heptathlete Nadine Visser, German Cindy Roleder, Noregian Isabelle Pedersen, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas and Nigeria’s Oluwatobiloba Amusan.
Susanna Kallur’s world record of 7.68sec could come under fire from the American trio should the hurdlers maintain their season form in the Arena Birmingham.
