Stars Sally Pearson and Craig Mottram were joined by discus world champion Dani Samuels as the headline names in the initial 25-member team.

The Athletics Australia selectors saw enough in Samuels’ solid throw of 61.30m - just 70cm short of the automatic qualifying mark - in dreadful weather at the trials on the weekend to give her the nod.

Although Gregson is yet to ensure his place among the Aussies for the London Games, he is more confident than ever after an outstanding run to win the 1500m race at the Melbourne Track Classic on Friday.

Gregson outsprinted 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medallist, New Zealander Nicholas Willis, and world champion Asbel Kiprop to come within three seconds of the qualifying time.

It was a significant step for Gregson, who will travel to the United States on March 27 for an altitude training camp.

‘‘All the result shows is that I’m a bit ahead in my training than some of the other guys,’’ Gregson said. ‘‘But I’ve never beaten a couple of these guys, in Kiprop and Willis, so I was ... happy to win.’’

Gregson finished Friday night’s race in 3:38.51, with a fierce headwind heading into the home straight making it difficult to beat the clock.

‘‘As soon as I woke up [on Friday morning] and saw the wind blowing, I knew it was unlikely I’d run [an Olympic] class time,’’ he said.

‘‘It was more about running a good race and being in a position to beat these guys and I was able to pull away at the end.’’

Although the magical time - and Olympic selection - may still elude him, it did wonders for Gregson’s confidence, as the celebratory post-race jig and Twitter post declaring he had his ‘‘swagger back’’ testifies.

Among the 25 Australians named for the Olympics yesterday was new Australian pole vault world record holder Alana Boyd.

Samuels was the shock gold medal winner at the 2009 world titles in Berlin.

The squad will likely grow to more than 40 by the June 11 cut-off.

Boyd was surprisingly beaten into second place by training partner Liz Parnov at last weekend’s trials in Melbourne.

But the selectors took into account Boyd’s recent stellar run of form and the wet conditions in selecting her alongside Parnov who, at 17, is the youngest member of the squad.

Samuels came up just 70cm short of the automatic qualifying standard of 62m at the Melbourne trials, but did enough to convince national high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth and the other selectors that she can achieve the distances she did in 2009.

Henry Frayne received the nod in the long jump after previously earning automatic selection in his favoured triple jump.

Jared Tallent will contest the 20km walk as well as the 50km, having won medals in both events four years ago in Beijing.

And his wife Claire Tallent will compete in the women’s 20km in London after winning the trial in Hobart last month.

The focus will shift to two of the biggest names in Australian athletics, defending Olympic champ and 2009 world championships pole vault gold medallist Steve Hooker and Jana Pittman, who has twice topped the world in the 400m hurdles.

Hooker is training well but won’t return to competition until he is over the yips, while Pittman has only just gone back to the track after another foot injury.