Saturday, 6 April 2019:

A superb CV that includes an Olympic 100m hurdles gold medal and two world championships titles says it all - Sally Pearson has absolutely nothing left to prove.

But as she returns to competition over the barriers for the first time in more than a year at the national titles on Sunday, Pearson can still hear some doubters.

Partly that's due to the injuries in recent years.

An Achilles problem ruled Pearson out of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and cruelled her 2018 campaign.

She missed the 2015 world titles and the Rio Olympics due to persistent hamstring and Achilles issues and a severely broken wrist.

But when she is fit - as she is now - the Queenslander is still a peerless big-time performer, as shown yet again when she coached herself to the 2017 100m hurdles world title in London.

"I don't feel like I have to prove myself because I know what I have done and my achievements," she told reporters on the eve of her event at the Australian championships.

"People very quickly forget that I am a two-time world champion and an Olympic champion and silver medallist. They forget all that.

"It's like 'every time she wants to come out and race she just breaks down'.

"Well, no I don't."

The major target for Pearson in 2019 is chasing an unprecedented third world title in Doha in October.

But the biggest goal of all is next year's Tokyo Games, where she is aiming to become only the second Australian after the legendary Shirley Strickland to win the same Olympic track and field event twice.

To achieve those aims, Pearson knows she needs to listen to her body, which is part of the reason why she held back her return to competitive hurdling until now.

"There's only so much you can do to get fitter and stronger, but I wanted to be really good for Doha, because I have to race the Olympic champion (American Brianna Rollins) there," she said.

""For me it's really important to make sure that my progressions into the world championships are the best they can be considering last year.

"I don't want to have another last year. Touch wood.

"I have to be really careful - because I'm 32 and the body is definitely feeling 32 - about how I manage my training loads with my competition."

In another step to help quieten the outside noise, Pearson has deleted the Twitter and Facebook apps from her phone.

"For me, what I do in the sport, the way I compete well is being so focused and narrow-minded and being selfish, looking after myself," she said.

"When you are on social media you're wondering what other people are doing and you're focusing on someone else."

AAP