Jarrod Bannister is now looking for a new coach

Australian javelin star Jarrod Bannister has been down the self-coaching road with considerable success.

After splitting last year with former East German world record holder Uwe Hohn for personal reasons, Bannister coached himself to the Commonwealth Games javelin title in Delhi.

It wasn't easy, but he made it work.

But he knows it's not the answer for the long haul.

Back home for the national titles and world championships selection trials starting in Melbourne in Friday, Bannister revealed he had been working recently with Finnish coach Kari Ihalainen.

Javelin throwing is a very big deal in the Scandinavian nation and the highly-regarded Ihalainen is now employed by the cashed-up South Korean athletics federation.

Bannister, 26, has spent the last six weeks training with them at a camp in Hong Kong.

"I've been keeping a low profile, just getting things done," he said.

"I am still looking for a coach.

"You need someone there to coach you and motivate you, to provide the second set of eyes and help with the planning.

"There are so many different aspects of coaching."

Bannister surged to prominence early in 2008 with a massive throw of 89.02m which kept him atop the world rankings for much of the year.

He had genuine medal hopes at the Beijing Olympics, only to injury his elbow in the final before finishing sixth.

His gold medal-winning effort last year in Delhi was a more modest 81.71m, but Ihalainen saw enough in the last few weeks to think that Bannister could recapture his form of 2008.

"What I want is a really solid year of training and then a few lead-up comps before the world championships in Daegu and then to get out the other end injury-free which will give me a good start going towards the London Olympics," said Bannister, who had back problems last year.

"Kari said he wouldn't be surprised if I got back up to my old form.

"He's isolated some weak areas in my body, trying tostreamline my technique and make it more efficient.

"If we can bring it all together I don't see why I can't get back up there in a short period of time.

"I've done it in the past.

"The main thing is to stay injury-free."

source: ninemsn.com.au