The Tasmanian sent a statement to his rivals on Saturday, taking out the 100 metre final at the ACT Championships in a personal best time of 10.21 seconds.

Despard edged Ginninderra's Edward Osei-Nketia in a photo finish, with Joshua Azzopardi third. Ella Connolly claimed the women's final, ahead of Sam Geddes and Hana Basic.

The victory sets the tone for what Despard hopes will be a bumper year, culminating in the World Championships in Budapest.

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"It's pretty special to win," Despard said. "I've been coming here for four to five years now, it's known as the sprint capital of Australia. To come here this weekend with the nation's best and come away with the win, it's something I've always wanted to do and a really good sign being so early in the season."

Despard emerged as a promising junior a decade ago, winning the Stawell Gift in 2018, but it has been a slow toil to reach the elite ranks as an opens athlete.

That all changed last year, the sprinter breaking through with a number of impressive performances.

Despard made his Commonwealth Games debut and competed in multiple international races.

The experience opened the athlete's eyes to how the world's best sprinters operate and provided additional motivation to continue pursuing his Olympic dream.

Despard has started 2023 with a bang, running a personal best in the 200m sprint in Brisbane last weekend before Saturday's win. He will contest the 200m event in Canberra on Sunday.

Another win he hopes, will set the tone for a busy year.

"I went over last year and ran a few races in Switzerland, then went into the Commonwealth Games," he said.

"It made me more hungry to get back over there. The level of athletics and appreciation in Europe is huge."

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