Wells (nee Boden) must cut one-hundredth of a second from her season-best to qualify for August's world championships in China, and competition from Tate in the 400m hurdles could provide the extra pace she needs.

Tate beat Wells in Europe in 2013, but the rivalry helped push Wells to a personal best of 55.08 seconds.

It was the fastest time Wells had run in three years and is well below the required world championships standard of 56.20sec.

Tate has a personal best of 54.70 seconds and finished third at the US nationals, while Wells clocked 56.21 at the canberra Track Classic in January - one-hundredth of a second off the world championship-qualifier.

"I ran against [Tate] at a little Belgium meet in 2013 when I did my PB, and at the time didn't know she was going to be in that race," Wells said.

"We had a battle for basically 350m of the race and it pushed me to a big PB.

"I was really thankful she was in my race that day and I obviously hope to emulate some of that form on Saturday night."

After Sydney, Wells will focus on winning her eighth national title at the Australian championships in Brisbane from March 26-29.

"I'd like to think I'm a pretty humble and grounded athlete," the 26-year-old said.

"I do find it hard talking about the achievements because while I'm proud of my achievements, I don't want people to take it the wrong way."

Canberra sprinter Melissa Breen✓ gets another chance to test herself against Sally Pearson in the 100m, while Commonwealth Games representative Emily Brichacek✓ takes on a strong field in the women's 5000m national championship.