Reigning Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson will take enormous self-belief from a slick time trial on the Gold Coast, says Australian head athletics coach Craig Hilliard.
Pearson has not raced since breaking her left wrist in a heavy fall at the Rome Diamond League meet in June last year.
She suffered a further setback when an Achilles problem ruled her out of the Australian summer season.
But all that was put aside on Saturday as the 29-year-old clocked a fast time of 12.75 seconds in a time trial against regular training partner Sam Baines and two female competitors.
"It's been an incredibly frustrating time for Sal so she and her coach Ash Mahoney will get an enormous amount out of that run," said Hilliard, who was trackside to watch the run.
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"It's validation for all the work they have been doing in training.
"To run that time first-up is very encouraging and the best thing is that there's still so much more room for improvement."
Pearson will do one more time trial on the Gold Coast next weekend before heading to Europe.
Her official return to competition will be at the Diamond League stop in Birmingham on June 5, the first of five meets she plans to contest before the Rio Olympics in August.
Hilliard was impressed with the new clenched-fist starting technique which Pearson has been forced to adopt after recovering from the broken wrist.
"There was no issue with her start at all," he told AAP.
"One of Sal's great strengths has always been her awesome starts.
"Now she just needs to get a lot of high-quality racing in and that will come in Europe."
American Kendra Harrison boasts the fastest three 100m hurdles times in the world this year, headed by the 12.36 she ran in April.
