MELBOURNE (Australia) - CHRIS Rawlinson, a former Commonwealth Games hurdles gold medalist for England, plans to make a comeback to compete for Australia at next year's world championships.

Rawlinson, the husband and coach of two-time 400-metre hurdles world champion Jana Rawlinson of Australia, won the men's 400-metre hurdles representing England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

He retired after the 2006 Games in Melbourne to oversee his wife's career.

The 36-year-old Rawlinson coached Jana Rawlinson to a second world title last year in Osaka, Japan. She is now back in full training after complications from a serious toe injury ruled her out of the Beijing Olympics.

Chris Rawlinson is close to gaining Australian citizenship and said he has the approval of UK Athletics and Athletics Australia in his bid to represent Australia at the worlds in Berlin next year.

The A qualifying standard is 49.25 seconds, a time Rawlinson bettered off a limited training base at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

'The time itself wouldn't ordinarily be too much of an issue but I haven't raced for a couple of years and I won't really find out until I start racing, probably in January,' Rawlinson said on Sunday.

'At this point I'm just going to ride the wave and see what happens. It should be a motivator for the other Australian 400 hurdlers, because I'm sure they won't want to get beaten by a 36-year-old.' Jana Rawlinson said she supports her husband's plan.

'He just wants to enjoy it again and he figures that while I'm running, he might as well do it too,' she said. -- AP