NO HURRY FOR SPRINT FINISH

THEY’RE teammates and rivals but Australia’s world-record breaking female sprinters Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton are looking forward to growing old together.

Like a good red wine they believe they will get better with age, and at 30 and 27 will be physically peaking by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Anna Meares and Victoria Pendleton both produced their best results in their late 20s and early 30s, while the most successful male track sprinter of all time, Sir Chris Hoy, won Olympic and world championship gold medals at the age of 36.

McCulloch was just 24 when she made her Olympic debut in London in 2012 and has ridden the highs and lows of the sport to make it back to the top level.

“Power sports particularly, for females, it really is around that 28 to 32 mark and we’ve seen Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares reach their best around that age,” she said.

“I try to encourage the young kids coming through who want to be Olympic champions tomorrow, actually it’s a commitment, a two-or three Olympic cycle commitment if you really, really want it.

“And Steph and I are coming into our prime, and I think that come Tokyo hopefully we’re hitting our straps pretty hard.”

The pair won team sprint gold together at this week’s Games then went head to head in the sprint, time trial and keirin.

“We’re able to push each other in training and the fact that we can be so close off the track and such fierce rivals on it, that’s the way it should be,” Morton said.

Together they won every sprint event on the program.