Disappointed Sally Pearson has listened to her body and made the difficult decision to withdraw from the 100m hurdles final at the national championships after feeling exhausted following her opening-round heat.
In her first competitive hurdles race in 14 months, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion claimed a narrow heat win in 12.99 seconds in steamy conditions in Sydney on Sunday.
"That race was hard, it was super hard and I don't know why," said Pearson.
"Speaking to the doc afterwards, it just felt like I had run an 800, whatever that feels like.
"I felt buggered.
"And because I have the choice not to run in the final I'm going to take it.
"I'm already going to the world champs and I'll move on to next week."
As the defending champion, Pearson gets automatic selection for October's world titles in Doha.
She was forced to withdraw from last year's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with an Achilles tendon injury which cruelled her 2018 campaign.
"This was my first hurdles race for 14 months and a lot of that 14 months was rehab, trying to get back into training again," she said.
"Then from about October or November it was trying to get fast again and then the first race.
"So it was all in a very short amount of time to get back up to 100 per cent.
"My body is just saying 'don't do it; you don't need to run now, you've got six more months until the world championships'.
"At the end of the day you've got to respect your body and that's what I'm doing at the moment."
Pearson, who was chasing a 10th national title in her pet event, had to work in the opening round to hold off the challenge of runner-up Brianna Beahan (13.07).
Pearson's PB of 12.28 was set back at the 2011 world championships in Daegu.
She will now take a few weeks off training before heading to Japan in mid-April for several meets, including the world relays in Yokohama.
