Young gun cyclist Stephanie Morton beats Anna Meares and China’s Tianshi Zhong on opening night in Adelaide

GLASGOW-bound Stephanie Morton claimed two major international scalps on her way to winning the women’s sprint on the opening night of the ITS Adelaide.

CYCLING - Track sp Srint cycling - International Track Series at Adelaide SuperDrome. Stephanie Morton goes through to the Women's Spring Final after defeating Anna Meares in the Semi-Finals. Photo Sarah Reed.

GLASGOW-bound young gun Stephanie Morton claimed two major international scalps on her way to winning the women’s sprint on the opening night of the ITS Adelaide.

The 23-year-old beat teammate and dual Olympic gold medallist Anna Meares in straight sets in the semi-final then delivered the same result against world championship silver medallist Tianshi Zhong of China in the final.

“Winning is good but for me it was more about practising plays and tactics and if you get both of them right you get a good outcome,” said Morton, who qualified fastest in the afternoon.

“I’ll take this win and enjoy it tonight but we’ve got three more sprint events this series and it’s a clean slate every time.”

It was the second time this year Morton has beaten Meares at the Adelaide SuperDrome after her win at the national championships in February.

“I’ll tick this one but she’s (Meares) got a lot more ticks next to her name than I do so I’ll take this tonight but the next time is a clean slate and game on again.”

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The result showed Morton is on track for next month’s Commonwealth Games after earning selection in a trial race a fortnight ago.

“I’m pretty stoked, I didn’t know what to expect because we just had the Comm Games trials not long ago and into another big block of training so I’m pretty happy,” Morton said.

“It has been about two weeks (since trials) and you usually go on the down (in that time) that’s why I was a bit worried about where my form would be but I’m happy the training is paying off.

“Events like this do mean a lot, they are big and you’ve got to practice at some point.

“You’ve got to have the pressure, the crowd and atmosphere so it was a really good simulation - pretty close to Comm Games with the buzz and hype and international riders.

“It was a perfect platform to practice and that comes down to nutrition, psych and everything, not just the riding.”

Meares said she was “happy but stuffed” after beating Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee in the race for third in which she called on her experience and tactical brilliance to come from 1-0 down to win in three heats.

“I had to dig a bit deep there,” Meares said.

“Sometimes you don’t have the engine, you’ve got to be a bit crafty in your nous and placement on the track.

“Lee and I have raced so many times and it’s really fun (even though) it really hurt me.

“(Coach) Gary (West) was constantly reminding me ‘it’s all about the execution and you’ve got to hurt yourself’ and the more racing I got the better I felt and the more racing I’ll get the better I’m going to get by the time Glasgow comes around.”

Matt Glaetzer dominated the men’s field by qualifying fastest in the flying 200m then beating Mitch Bullen in the semi finals and Pete Lewis in the final of the men’s sprint.

“I was very happy with that qualifying time, I was going to be content with a 10.1 so to go 10.00 was a good achievement,” Glaetzer said.

“I’ve been training pretty hard and this is a good hit-out towards the end of a really strong training phase so to be able to come out with this performance is really encouraging for the lead up to the Commonwealth Games.”

The men’s field was missing Glasgow-bound sprinter Shane Perkins who withdrew from competition due to a back injury.

The 27-year-old hurt his back in the gym a fortnight ago and scans showed a bulging disc and inflammation but he is confident it will not threaten his Commonwealth Games campaign.

“Looking at the grand scheme of things, the Commonwealth Games is the big one,” Perkins said.

“And instead of looking at what I can’t do, I’m looking at what I can do.

“I’m optimistic about it and it could be a bit of a blessing to let the back heal up and body recover.”

The International Track Series continues daily until Sunday and has attracted 145 riders from nine nations.

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Originally published as Young gun cyclist Stephanie Morton beats Anna Meares and China’s Tianshi Zhong on opening night in Adelaide