“We set an Olympic world record in the final and beat the world champions”.
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“I’m delighted that in his first Olympic Games Callum has become an Olympic champion, and, at only 23 years old, he has the potential to continue performing at the very highest level for many years to come after becoming Scotland’s first gold medal victor at Rio”. They finished in 42.440 seconds, lowering the Olympic record that the Kiwis set in the previous round.
France claimed the bronze medal after defeating Australia on the line in a close finish in the race for the third spot on the rostrum.
And it increases the likelihood that Kenny and his fiancee Laura Trott, who goes in the women’s team pursuit finals today, could win Olympic gold on the same day.
While Sir Chris retired in 2013, the GB team sprint squad have not won a major championship since the home Olympic Games four years ago but he believes that counts for little now.
That would see Kenny – who is exactly 12 years younger than Hoy, who is also born on March 23 – take his tally to six gold medals and one silver.
Australia made things interesting in the final, building a lead of 0.695 seconds by the midway mark. It’s always best because you’ve got somebody to share it with. The Aussies finished in 4:19.059, 5.799 seconds off GB. Frustrated by Kenny’s often patchy form, the former Team GB technical director Shane Sutton once likened the enigmatic cyclist from Bolton to a bear going in and out of hibernation. Maybe I can win a few more during these Games.
The women’s pursuit team went through the first round of the team pursuit qualifiers in style, setting a new world record as they did so. “It was a fantastic series [in the team sprint], to not only ride that fast once but to do it three times on such limited recovery, at such a high level”. We left it on the track, and unbelievably it was enough to win the gold. GB will face New Zealand and Denmark will face Australia. The winners Friday advance to race for gold later in the day. In 2014 he became the first man to ever win all four sprint events – team sprint, individual sprint, keirin and kilo – at the national championships.
“They were aiming for gold and they got it”.
The team sprint Olympic Record had fallen again by the time the Brits returned to the track, in the final heat of the next round, with New Zealand clocking 42.535.
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It was an intense three sprints in just over two hours, and New Zealand set the tone early in qualifying with an opening effort of 42.673, which lowered their national record of 42.892 from Paris in 2015.
