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Rio 2016: Briton Kenny retains men’s cycling sprint gold

The 28-year-old Kenny beat team-mate and room-mate Skinner 2-0 to join fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins and rower Sir Steve Redgrave on five Olympic gold medals.

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Not only did he defend the individual sprint title he won at the London Games, he also won his fifth Olympic gold medal.

Kenny won the first two legs of the sprint final to dominate his teammate, just as Hoy had done to him in Beijing in 2008.

Scots in Team GB won a total of 13 medals at London 2012 and with 12 already secured in Rio, they can equal or beat that in the final week.

“I remember sitting having breakfast with Chris that morning and it was a bit of the same this time”.

Denis Dmitriev of Russian Federation swept past Matt Glaetzer of Australia to take bronze.

“I kept telling him how strong I was and he kept telling me how good he felt”, Skinner, who impressed when playing the anchor role for Kenny and Philip Hindes for team sprint gold, told reporters after the ceremony.

Asked whether the previous night had been awkward, Kenny said he and Skinner had chatted about the progress of other British athletes at the Games.

Manchester’s record as the most successful gold-medal factory in Olympic history was bolstered as Bolton’s Jason Kenny scooped a gold medal tonight.

“I enjoyed it [today], it was a bit lonely in London with it only just being one per nation and being on my own in the finals”.

The victor of 30 stages in the Tour de France, Cavendish was the lone British rider to leave the 2008 Beijing Games without a track cycling medal. He will also have to hold off reigning Olympic champ Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark, who won the scratch race and individual pursuit before taking last in the elimination race. “For me in the Olympics, it’s a game”.

As the men had in their qualification, the two British riders in the women’s sprint qualified fastest in the flying lap – James setting a new Olympic record in the process.

It came eight years after Kenny lost out to future knight-of-the-realm Chris Hoy at Beijing 2008.

“I wouldn’t say it’s harder being beaten by a team mate”, Skinner said. “It’s the whole setup, it gives us the opportunity, and I’m really lucky to be part of this era to go through this incredible set of Games we’ve had”.

Meanwhile, the much-decorated Anna Meares had to come through a repechage heat to stay in contention for the women’s sprint title.

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“It’s really special, it’s not really sunk in”, Kenny told reporters.

Jason Kenny takes sprint gold at Rio 2016