AFTER fighting a back injury which delayed his start to summer's action, Bendigo athlete Tim Driesen will make a welcome return to Melbourne's Olympic Park this Thursday night.
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Driesen, 19, will compete in the hammer throw at the Melbourne leg of the Telstra A series.
Driesen's clubmates from South Bendigo. high jumping star Hannah Alderton and sprinter Tim Matthews will compete in Melbourne.
A previous winner of the Athletics Bendigo Athlete of the Year award, Driesen will take on Olympian Stuart Rendell.
Driesen marked his comeback to top-flight competition when third in the discus at the Telstra A series meet in Canberra.
Driesen's best was 53.87 m and surpassed a personal best of 53.83.
A goal for the Australian Institute of Sport athlete is to pass 55 m by the end of this season.
Driesen said a bulging disc put him on the sidelines for almost three months.
"I've done a fair amount of weight training to strengthen the back in rehab," Driesen said.
He was back home in Kangaroo Flat in early January and did some training at the regional track and field complex in Flora Hill.
At the AIS he is coached by Olympics coach Scott Gladman, while Trent Lawton oversees his weights program.
A representative at the 2000 Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh, Driesen may be trackside when this year's Games are run in Bendigo from November 29 to December 4.
Driesen won the discus and was third in hammer at the 2000 Games.
He competed in the discus and hammer at the 2001 World Youth Games in Hungary, and was 10th in the hammer throw at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Jamaica.
The long-term goal is the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
A contender for this year's Commonwealth Youth Games to be run in her hometown, Hannah Alderton- will pit her skills against Victoria's Gabrielle Conroy and Tessa Densley, ACT's Hope Watson and NSW Institute of Sport's Petrina Price in the high jump on Thursday.
Alderton achieved a personal best of 1.78 m as she won gold in the under-16 final at the Australian All Schools track and field titles in Brisbane last December.
A multiple gold medallist from the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics and 2000 Sydney Paralympics, Tim Matthews will race in the 200 m Ambulant event on Thursday night.
Winner of ifThe Advertiser Southern Cross TEN Sports Star of the Year for 2000-01, Matthews will race long-time friend Don Elgin in the build-up to this year's Athens Paralympics.
