Ruthless Meares regains Australian sprint crown

Image 1 of 13

Anna Meares was forced to show her ruthless streak at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney to reclaim her grip on the Australian women's sprint title, a title the 27-year-old hasn't won since 2009.

With Friday’s win over New South Wales' Kaarle McCulloch, Meares has now won gold in the women's sprint five times, having previously won in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009.

Given that Meares and McCulloch are world champions in the team sprint and train together in Adelaide, the final was always going to be a close one. Both cruised through qualifying and the semi finals. When it came to the gold medal showdown, only half a wheel separated them, with Meares ensuring there was no need for a third and final race.

"It was always going to be tough against Kaarle and it's always been in the past but that's what makes it fun for me," Meares explained after her win. "I like a challenge and it's my first national title as a South Australian representative as well so that's very special."

A smiling Meares said that letting McCulloch win was simply not an option.

"There's only been one spot at the Olympics and I've filled that in the past two occasions and I know that I've been what stopped her trying to achieve her goal of going to the Olympics," she said.

"As much as I feel for her when I'm off the track, I can't feel that way when I'm on the track otherwise I'm going to be the one that's losing the races and the shoe's on the other foot. So I'm always as aggressive as possible on the track and I'm always aware of what it feels like to get beat. I've had the pleasure of being number one for a while aside from last year when Kaarle won.”

"I remember when I was coming up and I got beat every race. Michelle Ferris beat me by 50m in one race, Lyndelle Higginson schooled me, Kerrie schooled me - that's the sort of thing that makes you a bit tougher in the long run. I'm hoping that I'm pissing Kaarle off because by the time I retire she's going to be one hard girl to beat."

McCulloch meanwhile was resigned to Meares' current superiority.

"I think I have got to the stage now that I am racing against the best rider in the world who is at the peak of her career, and I am five years away from my peak," she said.

"I got beaten by half a wheel length in both the races today but in a couple more years time, when I get a little bit more strength in my legs, I have no doubt that I could beat Anna. But at the moment, it is not just quite there."

Dennis, Hepburn face off in 4000m pursuit

The final of the men's 4000m team pursuit between a South Australian team featuring world champion Rohan Dennis, and Queensland featuring another member of Australia's world champion team, Michael Hepburn, proved interstate rivalry was alive and well.

Dennis, joined by Alexander Edmondson, Damien Howson and Glenn O'Shea were dominant from the outset of the showdown and were spurred on by their opponent jibes and took the gold in a time of 4:02.389.

"We knew we had to lift," explained Dennis. "Queensland was giving us a bit of stick and a bit of smack talk. We were pretty confident we knew we had to go out faster. I bumped my gear up so I could do a little bit of extra work to help the guys across the line."

With two world champions in the mix, who knew each other's skills back-to-front, extra pressure was on Dennis to ensure his team went home with the title for the second year running.

"I knew he'd [Hepburn]be pretty keen to win the jersey this year and his form is pretty good every year in the team's pursuit so I was a little bit worried before the heats about what sort of turns he'd be pulling." Dennis admitted. "We didn't want to give it up to the Queenslanders – ever really."

In the men's 15km scratch race, New South Wales' Scott Law made a mad dash two laps out from the finish to put an end to West Australian Luke Dubridge's hopes of a maiden gold medal at the 2011 national titles. Western Australia's Stephen Hall claimed silver while South Australia's Glenn O'Shea took bronze.

There was drama in the men's under 19 sprint when Victoria's Luke Parker and the ACT's Nathan Hart collided on turn one in the first heat of their final. Both went down hard, Hart was up straight away, but Parker seemingly okay but took a little longer to recover after a bit of blood was spilt.

Fastest qualifier Hart took the win in a re-started first heat before Parker took the second in a drag race. Hart then pulled out of the decider with cramps giving Parker the overall win.

Victoria's Adele Sylvester claimed the sprint double with her win in the women’s under 19 sprint over Western Australia's Allee Proud, having taken out the 500m time trial on Thursday night.

In the Para kilometre tandem finals, South Australia's Felicity Johnson and pilot Stephanie Morton (1:09.999) set a new Australian record in their gold medal ride and made it back-to-back Australian titles in the event.

Queensland's Paralympic bronze medallist Bryce Lindores and pilot Victoria's Sean Finning (1:06:325) were streaks ahead of their opposition to claim the gold medal in the men's event.