Pearson in zone for rapid display

Olympic champion Sally Pearson will race her first 100m hurdles for the year at the Go for 2 & 5 Perth Track Classic at the WA Athletics Stadium tomorrow night ahead of her 60m world indoor title defence in Poland next month.

Pearson is hoping for a fast opening time on a new track with ideal weather conditions expected. She is targeting 12.8sec. or better.

"I love a fast track and the way it feels can also boost an athlete's confidence, knowing that you feel good on it and for competition it's going to be really exciting," she said.

"We know that Perth generally has good conditions and we wanted to make sure that for my first hurdle race we were going to have those conditions to prepare for some fast times."

Pearson will also run the 100m flat, taking on Australia's fastest woman, Melissa Breen.

Breen clocked 11.11 at the ACT championships earlier this month to break the 20-year-old national record of Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.

"I think I'm capable of doing the time but it's hard because our technique and our rhythms are so different because I am such a hurdler," Pearson said.

"But I think once I do some more races and build up my speed and my strength, anything can happen."

Pearson said it would be incredible if an Australian woman could break 11.00 in the 100m and hoped she would be the first to do it.

"It would show the world that our sprinting genes are just as good as anyone else's in the world, no matter where you're from," she said.

"It's nice to have that friendly rivalry with Melissa and hope- fully we can keep pushing each other for the next few years and see if we can go under that 11-second barrier."

Pearson said it was a relief to be healthy at this time of year after missing last year's Perth leg of the domestic season with a hamstring injury.

The 27-year-old said she had been tweaking her technique to prevent more injuries.

"The data that came back from my biomechanist really showed things are moving in the right direction," she said.

I love a fast track … it's going to be really exciting."Sally Pearson