Wells wasn't sure if she would return to the track following Rio, but after taking a break from the sport the 28-year-old has returned in 2017 as hungry as ever.

Wells put the spikes back on and ran personal best times in the 200m hurdles and 200m flat, before winning a record 10th national title in the 400m hurdles in March.

The Canberra export had her sights firmly set on a final berth in Rio but after crashing out of 400m hurdles in the semi-finals, Wells watched on as the reserve when Australia made the 4x400m relay final for the first time in 16 years.

"After Rio I was a bit disappointed with how I performed and just felt like the 10 years leading up to it had been the same thing year after year and it was time for a break," Well said.

"I didn't train for a month, I said to my coach Matt [Beckenham] that I'm not going to world champs in 2017 and I didn't want to hurdle.

"I just wanted to come back on my own terms, I needed to reignite the fire and wanted to ease back into the sport. Matt was very supportive and my mind has changed a few times along the way after Rio, but it's all worked out for the better.

"Working on that flat speed has helped with my hurdles and I ran a world qualifier really early this season which I've never done before.

"We certainly mixed it up this time which some people think is risky because it has worked in other years, but it was time to change something."

Wells is now gunning for maiden world championships final berth when the best track and field athletes on the planet converge on London in August.

It marks a return to the same track where Wells became an Olympian in 2012 and she is confident of delivering a run 15 years in the making.

"I want to run under 55 seconds and to do that I just need a tenth of a second, I need two metres over 400 metres to be faster and I'll be so happy," Wells said.

"I have an underlying feeling that I've got more in me and not quite reached my potential. Not to say I haven't been trying my best all these years, but the 400m hurdles is such a technical and tricky event.

"There are lots of things you can't control like weather and lane draws, which sometimes make things a bit harder, but I certainly feel like I'm the fittest I've been.

"In Glasgow it poured down before the final and that's just the nature of the sport, but I'd love to have that one day where it feels like everything is right and be in great shape and put a performance on the board I know I'm capable of."

Wells has finished one place outside the medals an agonising four times in three Commonwealth Games appearances, but is confident of saving her best for last on the Gold Coast.

"I'm very proud of my career so far but every time I'm out there on track and the legs filled with lactic, all I'm thinking about is the girls who I want to be and medals I want to win," Wells said.

"I'm still full of fire and passion and just want to leave the sport with no regrets and knowing I've given my absolute all and achieved what I'm capable of.

"In an ideal world I'd like the Gold Coast to be my swansong, I started my career in Melbourne 2006, so it would be a fairytale to start and finish with a home Comm Games.

"But at the same time I might have a fantastic run this season or next year and I might want to keep going, right now the focus is on the next 12 months."