Sally Pearson, one of Australia's greatest ever track athletes, has announced her retirement effective immediately.
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Less than a month before she was to defend her World Championship title in Doha and only 12 months out from the Tokyo Olympics, the 100m hurdler declared injuries had forced her to retire immediately.
The 32-year-old Pearson has had to deal with six different injuries, the latest being a recurrence of an Achilles injury, which had prevented her doing the work to be able to be fit enough to compete at the top level.
![Sally Pearson, one of Australia's greatest ever track athletes, has announced her retirement. Picture: AAP Sally Pearson, one of Australia's greatest ever track athletes, has announced her retirement. Picture: AAP](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc6zgsw17j98g142lxq159.jpg/r0_0_2901_4302_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I have prided myself on always being on the start line ready to win. I no longer believe I can achieve this. It is therefore with much regret that I have come to the conclusion that it is time to retire from this phase of my life and move on to the next," Pearson said.
"I love my sport and the friends I have made through it. I have had wonderful support from my family, my team, Athletics Australia, the AOC, my sponsors, the media and the fans - to them all I say thank you."
She had been scheduled to compete in Diamond League meets in Europe this northern summer and had to abandon each as injury after injury intervened.
Pearson, the 100m hurdles gold medallist from the London Olympics, also won Olympic silver in Beijing.
She won gold at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, then after overcoming a shattered wrist and multiple other injuries she stunned with a comeback win to claim gold again at the world titles in London in 2017. She had won silver at the World Championships in Moscow in 2013.
She was forced out of last year's Commonwealth Games at home on the Gold Coast due to injury.
She had previously won Commonwealth gold in Delhi and Glasgow.
AAP