Hometown favourite and defending champion Sally Pearson has withdrawn from the women’s 100 metre event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia due an Achilles injury.

It’s understood the injury flared up again after Pearson ran a relay leg in Brisbane last week.

Pearson was the final relay runner in the opening ceremony and had been the face of the Commonwealth Games ever since the Gold Coast was named as the host city.

The 31-year-old who has been unable to train properly for the past two months was expected to be the key runner in Australia’s 4-by100 metre relay team.

Pearson has been injury plagued since winning her second Commonwealth crown in Glasgow in 2014 and missed the Rio Olympics because of a combination of Achilles and hamstring issues.

However she turned her career around last year by winning her second 100m world title in London and was nominated in the Laureus Sports Awards Comeback of the Year.

Pearson is believed to be adamant that her career isn’t over but she will take an extended break from the sport before turning her attention to the 2019 world championships and 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.