Australian track cycling star Anna Meares has reclaimed the national team sprint title from her international team-mate Kaarle McCulloch.
Meares and fellow South Australian Rikki Belder beat the NSW team of McCulloch and Cassandra Kell in the gold medal ride-off on day one of the nationals at the Adelaide Superdrome.
It was Meares’ 20th senior national track cycling title.
Belder led out Meares in the two-lap event and was more than one 10th of a second quicker than Kell.
Meares finished in 34.156 seconds and McCulloch clocked 34.376, while Victoria’s Ziggy Callan and Adele Sylvester beat the WA pair of Tian Beckett and Allee Proud for the bronze medal.
Meares and McCulloch have won the last three world championships in the team sprint.
SA qualified fastest for the final in 34.541, just ahead of the 34.554 from NSW.
McCulloch had been part of the NSW teams that had won the last two national team sprint titles, while Meares’ most recent national championship in the event was when she was riding for Queensland in 2009.
Also on Thursday, Queenslander Michael Hepburn qualified fastest in the 4000m individual pursuit and will face in-form South Australian Rohan Dennis in the evening final.
SA’s James Glasspool won the 1km time trial.