A touch of hamstring soreness kept Sally Pearson out of a second flat sprint clash with Melissa Breen, but nothing was going to stop the Olympic champion putting down a marker in her flagship hurdles event at the Perth Track Classic on Saturday (22).Competing over the 100m hurdles for the first time this year, Pearson looked mighty pleased with her performance, letting out a yell of delight as she crossed the line in 12.59. Though tailwinds aided the sprinters throughout the meeting, the women’s hurdles was run into a -0.2m/s headwind.Pearson is clearly in excellent shape to defend her 60m hurdles title at next month’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland.Pearson, boasting a personal best of 12.28, said she was surprised at her fast time given it was her first hurdling event of the season.“It's such a relief,” said Pearson, whose 12.59 is easily her fastest ever season opener.“I was really worried coming into here – that's why I pulled out of the 100m. I don't think my hamstring's ready to do the double.“I've got the World Indoor Championships in two weeks, and that's the most important thing.“I'd rather win a gold medal than run a 100m here. I really want to regain my title.”Pearson ran 12.86, 12.66 and 12.49 (+0.8) in three lead-up races before winning the indoor gold medal two years ago in Istanbul. She had also raced several times in the flat sprints. She is obviously in just as good shape this time off less racing.Pearson sticks to hurdlesTwo weeks ago Melissa Breen had broken a 20-year-old Australian record in beating Pearson over 100m at the ACT Championships in Canberra. A return clash on Perth’s fast new track had been eagerly anticipated, especially with the warm weather and favourable winds Australia’s western-most state capital city almost invariably provides.Caution dictated otherwise, however, so Pearson opted not to put her hamstring through multiple warm-ups, races and warm-downs so close to the World Indoor Championships. Her win in the hurdles was never in doubt, but the time was a welcome result. Dogged by hamstring problems throughout last year, her season’s best for 2013 was only 0.09 quicker.In second place, Shannon McCann, Australian champion last year in Pearson’s absence, improved her best to 13.15.For her part, Breen won the 100 in 11.31 (1.1m/s) from Ashleigh Whittaker and Toea Wisil of Papua New Guinea.Mickle eyeing AR at IAAF World ChallengeThrows of 66 metres in Adelaide a week earlier was always going to be a hard act for world silver medallist Kim Mickle and fellow Moscow 2013 finalist Kathryn Mitchell to emulate. But after throwing 63.37m to win in her Perth hometown, Mickle made her intentions for the remainder of the Australian domestic season clear, saying she was desperate to break the Australian record and wanted to do so at the IAAF World Challenge 2014 opener in Melbourne on 22 March.Mickle’s 63.37m, and two other throws over 62 metres, sufficed to hold off her competition, but improving Canberra thrower Kelsey-Lee Roberts surprised by pushing Mitchell back into third place, 61.99m to 60.42m.Japan’s Yuki Ebihara could manage no better than 55.46m to take fourth place.Kuijken and Magut lead the middle-distancesThe women’s 1500m saw a clash between Moscow 5000m finalist Susan Kuijken and 1500m finalist Zoe Buckman and it was the longer-distance specialist who produced the superior speed at the end of the shorter distance.Buckman, Kaila McKnight and Melissa Duncan led at the bell but Kuijken prevailed in the finish, her 4:07.21 putting her a metre or two clear of Buckman (4:07.56) and McKnight (4:07.92). Duncan, who had led the group some 10 metres behind the pacemaker for the first 800m, finished fourth in a personal best of 4:09.13.Few fast miles have been run in Perth, despite efforts going back to years when John Landy was chasing the first sub-four-minute mile. Mike Hillardt had run the fastest – a 3:58.35 back in 1987 – though the most famous was probably the race in which Merv Lincoln came closer than any man to beating Herb Elliott. Both were timed in 3:59.6 in the February 1958 race, Elliott somehow thrusting his chest through the tape centimetres ahead of his great rival.James Magut of Kenya and Collis Birmingham tore that history up, however. Ireland’s Paul Robinson (third in 3:59.56) led early, but Birmingham tore into the lead at the bell. But he could not outrun Magut, who was in the lead at the 1500m and went on to win by a stride, 3:53.73 to 3:53.92.Contrasting fortunes for Merritt and SanchezWorld champion LaShawn Merritt warmed up for three races in Australia with a clear win in the flat 400m in 45.90, drawing Craig Burns to a personal best of 46.21 behind him.But there was no such joy for Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sanchez, whose loss in the Sydney 2000 Olympic final prompted him to wear a Sydney flashing bracelet in every race until he won the gold medal in Athens four years later.Sanchez finished a distant fifth in 52.75, more than three seconds behind New Zealand’s Michael Cochrane (49.72).South Africa’s Simon Magakwe won a double in the men’s sprints, taking the 100m in 10.21 (1.8m/s) and the 200m in 20.58 (1.1m/s).Len Johnson for the IAAF

A touch of hamstring soreness kept Sally Pearson out of a second flat sprint clash with Melissa Breen, but nothing was going to stop the Olympic champion putting down a marker in her flagship hurdles event at the Perth Track Classic on Saturday (22).

After Perth victory, Pearson set for title defence in Sopot

Hobart’s Domain Athletics Track, perched high above the Derwent River, offers a wide range of weather conditions.Sometimes it’s hot, sometimes cold; sometimes there are bushfires in the surrounding hills, sometimes, even in summer, there is snow atop nearby Mt Wellington.One thing never seems to change, however. When Collis Birmingham turns up for the 5000m at the Graeme Briggs Classic, he wins.Birmingham came again on Saturday day and, for the sixth time in seven years, he won. What happened on the seventh occasion, you ask: he didn’t run, is the answer.Paced by Ryan Gregson through 3000m in a touch outside eight minutes, Birmingham took control of the race soon after to scoot away to win by more than 50m in 13:27.35. British runner Nick McCormick was second, just getting the better of Gregson who continued on to finish third in his debut as a senior over 5000m on the track.The Tasmanian city of Hobart belied its geographic isolation as the southernmost Australian capital by offering an eclectic mixture of events winners. China’s Zhao Qinggang took the javelin with his second-ever throw beyond 80m; Susan Kuijken of the Netherlands won the women’s 1500m and there were victories for New Zealand in the men’s Shot (Tom Walsh) and the 400m Hurdles (Michael Cochrane).And, on a warm but blustery evening, an extra puff of wind deprived Linda Leverton (formerly Linda Allen) of an Australian record in the women’s Triple Jump.No collaring CollisBirmingham continued to mine the rich vein of form he has been in since the start of the year.He started 2013 with a smashing win at the Australian world cross-country selection trial in January and followed up with a win and personal best in the Marugame Half-marathon earlier this month.In the lead-up to the Briggs race, Birmingham said he was not looking too far ahead this year. His immediate goal is the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz next month.“World cross is my focus this year, on 24 March in Poland,” Birmingham said.It will be Birmingham’s sixth attempt at the event. His best placing is 29th, in Amman in 2009, the year he went on to make the 5000m final at the Berlin World championships. He seems in much more consistent form now than then.Birmingham is adding year-by-year to the rich history of the 5000m in Hobart. The Briggs Classic is named after former Athletics Australia president Graeme Briggs. In 1965, Ron Clarke broke the World record for the 5000m in Hobart. The indefatigable Briggs organised the meeting virtually single-handed – “he was even on the gate selling programs,” Clarke recalled once.In fact, Briggs organised things so perfectly that Clarke was worried the World record might be disallowed. The North Hobart Oval, used for athletics then, sloped markedly from one side to the&nbsp; other and the canny Briggs saw to it that the 5000m went 13 times down the hill and only 12 times up it.Not to worry, Clarke simply ran a couple of seconds faster in Auckland a couple of weeks later as he started what remains one of the most famous years in track distance running.Hopefully, Birmingham will follow his latest run with an even better exploit in Poland.Kuijken’s fastest since 2010Kuijken, who is currently based in Australia, produced her fastest time in three years to out-run Olympic semi-finalist Zoe Buckman from the front in the women’s 1500m.The 26-year-old Dutchwoman led every step after the pacemaker pulled out, holding off Buckman narrowly but decisively, 4:09.66 to 4:10.23.Zhao pushes spear past 80After young Tasmanian Hamish Peacock threw 78.85m at the Hunter Classic three weeks ago, hopes were high for an 80m throw in front of a home crowd.It came, too, but, alas, not Peacock’s way. He finished third with 75.59m.The winner, with 80.77m, was China’s Zhao Qinggang. It was just the second time the 27-year-old has gone over 80m (his best of 81.74m came in winning last year’s Chinese national title). Zhao is training in Australia with Uwe Hohn, the former World record-holder.Young throwers stand outNew Zealand’s Tom Walsh led a youthful 1-2 in the men’s Shot. Walsh, who will celebrate his 21st birthday next week, was within 23cm of his recent personal best with his winning throw of 19.60m.Behind him, Damien Birkinhead, last year’s World junior Championships bronze medallist, was just one centimetre short of his personal best with the senior Shot with a distance of 18.86m.Coming after Australian World Youth hopeful Matthew Denny threw 67.28m in the discus in Brisbane, there is clearly a lot of young throwing talent in the southern hemisphere.Leverton beats record, but not wind gaugeEleven years ago, Nicole Mladenis took advantage of a perfect 2.0m/s tailwind to set an Australian record 14.04m in the Triple Jump.On Saturday night, Linda Leverton jumped three centimetres farther, but her 14.07m will not count as a record because the assisting wind registered just over the legal limit at 2.3m/s. She had a best legal jump of 13.64m (1.1m/s).Leverton is coached by Mitch Watt’s coach Gary Bourne who had been very confident she would get the record on Saturday night. With a bit of luck, he might still be proved right by the end of the season.Len Johnson for the IAAF

Six of the best for Birmingham, Zhao over 80m in Hobart

Hobart’s Domain Athletics Track, perched high above the Derwent River, offers a wide range of weather conditions.