A resurgent squad of sprinters and a load of long jumpers with legitimate medal hopes will highlight the Australian track and field team at the Rio Olympics.
The first major tranche of a team currently numbering 35 athletes - including 20 Olympic debutants - was announced on Sunday night.
Reigning Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson was named as captain even though she has not raced since June last year due to serious wrist and Achilles injuries.
She will head an Australian squad in Rio which will boast competitors in the Olympic men's and women's 200m and the men's 100m for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games.
Alex Hartmann (20.46 seconds) and Ella Nelson (22.59) guaranteed their spots on the squad by winning the 200m races at the national championships which finished in Sydney on Sunday.
Josh Clarke was picked to run the men's 100m in Rio even though he missed the trials due to a hamstring strain.
Hartmann, 23, has made giant strides in the past 12 months.
"My nutrition has changed, everything has changed," said the strongly-built Queenslander.
"We've taken a very professional approach this year compared to previous years and the results have showed."
Nelson has also shot to prominence, having successfully followed the trail blazed by the likes of long jumpers Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt by linking with master coach Dan Pfaff in Arizona.
"I've never been more nervous in my life," said Nelson.
"I just put so much pressure on myself to perform well.
"... I set the bar pretty high so I really hope to make a final in Rio."
World outdoor and indoor silver medallist Fabrice Lapierre will be aiming even higher in Brazil as part of a men's long jump squad that could eventually expand to three, all with realistic medal hopes.
The famously laidback Lapierre only made it to the track at Sydney Olympic Park with 20 minutes to spare on Sunday before clinching victory with 8.27m.
If that result was pretty much expected, the same could not be said of runner-up Henry Frayne.
The 25-year-old has been beset with hamstring, groin and back problems since 2012, the year he shot to prominence and claimed silver at the world indoor championships.
Having not competed all year, the 25-year-old was understandably nervous when he woke up on Sunday.
But he was still able to produce his two biggest jumps since 2012 - 8.16m and 8.15m.
"Back in 2012 there was more excitement," said Frayne.
"This is more relief.
"There has not been a lot of jumping between then and now.
"That was really the peak of my career in early 2012 and since then I've had more injuries than probably any other athlete in track and field."
With London Olympics silver medallist Watt also targeting the Rio Games if he can overcome his own longstanding leg problems, Australia could potentially have three genuine podium contenders in the men's long jump in Rio.
Brooke Stratton is also an outside medal shot in the women's long jump, although her winning effort of 6.68m at the trials was 37cm shy of the national record she set last month in Perth.
Other athletes to guarantee their spots on the Rio team courtesy of their efforts on the final day of the national trials on Sunday included steeplechasers Madeline Hills, Genevieve LaCaze and Victoria Mitchell, long jumper Chelsea Jaensch, 100m hurdler Michelle Jenneke, 2009 discus world champion Dani Samuels, Eleanor Patterson (high jump) and Lauren Wells (400m hurdles).
Ryan Gregson will fancy his chances of joining them in the coming months, once he finds his way into a fast 1500m race in North America or Europe.
Gregson capped an unbeaten Australian season with a commanding victory on Sunday but his winning time of 3:37.76 was narrowly outside the automatic qualifying mark.
The Olympic team is expected to swell to approximately 50 athletes by the cut-off date on July 12.
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