Sprint star stays on the case

will give you that push to the finish it certainly helps on race day. I train day in and day out as hard as I can but to know I have got that mental edge is really encouraging.

“It’s something I have been able to do for the last few years.

“You just go into a hole, dig deep and find something. You feed off other people’s energy, you feed off the crowd’s energy, the competition’s weaknesses and your strengths.”

The Hervey Bay product isn’t putting himself under any pressure in his maiden Games but said sealing an upset over triathlon powerhouses including Alistair and Jonny Brownlee (Britain) and Richard Murray (South Africa) to win gold wasn’t out of the question. AUSTRALIA’S top female sprinter Stephanie Morton combines cycling with studying criminology at university, but doesn’t buy into the mind games or psychological profiling of her rivals.

The 27-year-old won gold in Glasgow in 2014 when she upstaged teammate Anna Meares in the sprint and now that Meares has retired, leads the team into a new era on the Gold Coast starting tomorrow.

Morton said she focused on tactics, not mind games, in the cat-and-mouse sprint after winning a silver medal in the event at the past two world championships. “I’ll look at them [rivals] in terms of their strengths and weaknesses but I don’t get involved in all those head games, let your legs do the talking really,” she said.

“Once you walk off I’d like to think you can shake hands and have a drink.

“It’s a bit old-school to get caught up in all those mind games, I like to think you can go out there — may the best man or woman win on tactics or strength — and it not be about intimidation.”

Morton is studying a bachelor of criminology and criminal justice with the aim of emulating current world champion Kristina Vogel of Germany and joining the police force.

“I’ve always wanted to be a police officer and while you’re training it’s good to keep your brain busy and have another distraction,” she said.

Morton said she had changed “massively” since the Glasgow Games and was like a completely different rider.

“I’d only been in the national team for two years around then and was still finding my feet, getting exposed to big competition,” she said. “So four years down the track I’ve a lot more races under my belt and physically I’m completely different.”