Some of the biggest names in Australian track and field will tomorrow night kick-start the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour. Queensland’s own Commonwealth 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson, world discus champion Dani Samuels and world championships long jump bronze medallist Mitchell Watt are set to lead a star cast of athletes into action at the Brisbane Athletics Classic.

Seven Commonwealth Games gold medallists will hit the track at Queensland Athletics Centre on the opening leg of the 2011 Tour. Sally Pearson will line up for her first hit-out over 100m since the disappointment of her disqualification from the women’s 100m final at the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

The determined Queenslander, who enters the 2011 Tour on the back of “the best preparation I’ve had for the Australian season in my senior career,” will no doubt be looking to make a winning return to the 100m. Pearson will take on ACT gun Melissa Breen before lining up for the 200m later in the evening.

Joining Pearson on a star-studded night of athletics entertainment, world discus champion Dani Samuels will return to action after bypassing last year’s Commonwealth Games. The 22-year-old Sydneysider is set to launch her campaign for back-to-back world titles at the 2011 IAAF world championships in Daegu, Korea, in August.

On the track, Brisbane local Mitchell Watt will make his long-awaited return to competition after sitting out much of 2010 with injury. The reigning world and world indoor championships bronze medallist will test his speed over 100m against Commonwealth Games representatives Matt Davies and Sean Wroe as the battle for the sprints/hurdles crown, one of four titles up for grabs in 2011, gets under way.

Davies, who contested the 200m and 4x100m relay in Delhi, and Wroe, who won silver in the 400m and gold in the 4x400m relay, will go on to contest the final event on the Brisbane Athletics Classic program, the men’s 200m.

In one of the most competitive events on tomorrow night’s schedule, Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning relay runners Joel Milburn, Kevin Moore and Ben Offereins will put camaraderie on hold to go head-to-head in the men’s 400m.

In other action on tomorrow night’s blockbuster program, Commonwealth champion Alana Boyd will hit the runway against Australian Flame teammate Amanda Bisk in the women’s pole vault, Liam Zamel-Paez will line up in the men’s high jump and Chris Noffke will be looking for the home crowd advantage to get him over the line in the men’s long jump.

Almost half a million dollars in prizemoney will be awarded to Australia’s top track and field athletes across the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour, which for the first time in Australian track and field history is set to pit the nation’s top performers against one another in a hard-fought race for cash. The new-look Tour features four event divisions, with sprints/hurdles, jumps, throws and distance titles all on the line.

Athletics Australia