Now the 24-year-old speedster has helped the Australian women's 4x400-metre relay team book a spot at the world championships in Berlin after they recorded a qualification time of three minutes and 28.97 seconds at the Osaka Grand Prix in Japan on Saturday.

Steinert ran the opening leg for the Australian team, which also featured Tamsyn Lewis, Madeleine Pape and Jodie Henry.

Needing a time of 3:31.00 to qualify, a blistering start from the Rutherford flyer gave the Aussies a 10m lead at the first changeover.

"I went out really, really hard and I think a lot of people were saying, 'Oh my god, what is she doing, she's going out way too hard,' " Steinert said.

"But I knew I was fit and strong from these last five weeks of training, and I followed it with an awesome bend and I felt really good in the home straight.

"I got the relay team off to a great start and the other girls just ran really good legs as well, and then we clearly won."

It was an amazing debut performance as a foursome considering their non-existent team preparation.

"We only did five minutes worth of relay changing the day before, it was ridiculous," Steinert said.

"The change from me to Madeleine [Pape] was terrible.

"I went for her hand three times, it was very scary, but we got there in the end.

"Having had no relay training, it was no surprise the relay changes weren't smooth, but it just goes to show that when we get time to get together and work on our relay changes we should really be able to make up some time there."

For Steinert, qualification for the world championships is an affirmation of the decision she made to leave her home town of Adelaide to link up with Maitland athletics coach Tony Fairweather.

At the time Steinert was struggling with a stress fracture in her foot, which led to surgery after a bone snapped while racing.

Her comeback was further sidelined by a hamstring injury.

"Unfortunately when I came to Tony I was very injured and I needed surgery, so we got off to a very rough start," she said.

"Lately, over the last few months, we've been able to get a lot of training in without any interruptions, so now being with Tony has really paid off."

Germany now looms for Steinert in August and beyond the horizon is the lure of competing in Delhi at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.