Champion hurdler Sally Pearson has delayed the return to her pet event after withdrawing from Sunday's Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane.
An Achilles injury forced the two-time world champion and London 2012 Olympics 100m hurdles gold medallist to miss last year's Commonwealth Games and she has not hurdled competitively since.
Pearson's manager Robert Joske played down any new health concerns for the 32-year-old, labelling it a "strategic plan" to avoid a clogged schedule ahead of October's world championships.
Pearson won a 100m sprint from national champion Riley Day last Saturday at a club meet in a successful return to the track and said post-race she was excited to back that up this weekend over the hurdles.
But on Thursday Joske said those plans had changed and her hurdles return would now come at April's national titles.
That means she will also bypass the Queensland Track Classic on March 23, an event that was also originally on Pearson's world championships checklist.
"She raced very well last week; we just didn't see the need," Joske told AAP.
"With the world championships deep in October ... week-to-week racing (at the moment isn't necessary).
"As we've become more and more mature with our preparation over her career ... we aren't going to take any risks."
The world championships are about two months later than normal and Joske said it was about peaking at the right time.
"Sally's always tried to support the Australian season and her preparation has required her to peak for both the Australian season and European season," he said.
