Stephanie's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Cycling – Track
Event: Team Sprint
Olympic History: Rio 2016
Year Born: 1990
State Born: South Australia
About Stephanie
Stephanie Morton confidently told her kindergarten class she would represent Australia at an Olympic Games, but with a background in badminton it was assumed the stage would be a court rather than velodrome.
Morton had played badminton since she could walk, her dad was the coach of the South Australian team, her older siblings played in the team and her mum was the manager. But at the suggestion of her uncle, a 15-year-old Morton hopped on an exercise bike and put her explosive skills to the test.
It wasn’t long before Morton had won a bronze medal at the junior state cycling championships.
It took winning another bronze medal, this time at the nationals, to sway Morton away from badminton to focus on cycling full-time.
The speed and tactics of track cycling are Morton’s driving force and it has fuelled her passion and success over an illustrious career.
She came close to winning her first national title in 2011 when she finished second in both the keirin and team sprint.
During this time, Morton was also training for the 2012 Paralympic Games as a tandem pilot for Felicity Johnson. The pair celebrated at the London Paralympics with gold in the 1 kilometre time trial tandem event.
In 2013, Morton won all three sprint titles at the Australian Championships before getting the chance to compete at her first Track World Championships where she finished fourth in the team sprint with Kaarle McCulloch.
Having defended both her team sprint and keirin national titles in 2014, she defeated her long-time idol Anna Meares to win gold in the sprint at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and also claimed silver in the 500 metres time trial.
Morton went close again to a world championships podium in 2015, placing fourth in the sprint and sixth in the keirin. In 2016, she established herself as one of the fastest women in the world, consistently posting the fastest flying 200m times, including the World Championships where she finished fourth in the team sprint (with Meares), seventh in the keirin and eighth in the sprint.
Morton made her Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. There, Morton teamed up with Meares in the women's team sprint, where the duo placed fourth. Morton finished her Games campaign with two 13th place finishes in the women's keirin and individual sprint.
In 2017, Morton had her most successful World Championships campaign to date, winning dual silver in the individual and team sprints with McCulloch, as well as placing fourth in the keirin.
Morton kicked off 2018 with a triple gold medal-winning performance at the 2018 Track Nationals before winning triple gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
A maiden victory followed at the 2019 World Championships where Morton won gold with McCulloch as a partner. She backed that up with a silver medal in the individual sprint.
At the 2020 World Championships, Morton won a bronze medal in the keirin and silver in the team sprint (with McCulloch). It was a stirring result given the pair had been sidelined for parts of 2019 due to injury.
In November 2020, just a few months after being announced to the Tokyo 2020 Team, Morton announced her retirement from international cycling.
