Great Britain will face New Zealand at the semi-finals stage on Wednesday, 9pm (BST).
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Kenny, who along with Callum Skinner and Philip Hindes, got the wheels turning on Thursday with a surprise win over New Zealand in the team sprint, has become the team’s talisman.
Greta Britain will face the Spain in the quarter-finals at 10pm United Kingdom time after beating the U.S. 2-1 on Sunday to top Group B.
After seeing off Spain in the last eight, Britain faced the challenge of New Zealand – ranked fourth in the world – in the semi-finals.
At the other end, Crista Cullen’s penalty corner shot was saved by Kiwi goalkeeper Kayla Whitelock.
The British opened the scoring midway through the second quarter when Alex Danson pounced on a penalty corner rebound and, after the Black Sticks had been unable to convert several chances to equalise, penalty strokes to Helen Richardson-Walsh and Danson in the final period sealed the result.
The team, who won bronze in the London 2012 and 10 years earlier in Barcelona, opened the game confidently but New Zealand looked to be the side with a more risky pace. Ansley Giselle had two penalty corner shots saved as Britain pushed for a second goal.
The tally is as many as they won in Beijing in 2008, but the 50 medals Britain have won overall is now their highest ever tally at an oversees Olympics.
Then Danson also converted from the spot after Lily Owsley was flattened by Liz Thompson.
The Dutch were the pre-tournament favourites, having won gold in the event in each of the last three Olympics.
Great Britain goalscorer Helen Richardson-Walsh: “We didn’t feel nervous, we were confident”.
“Going into Rio we’d like to think we’ll be walking into the track centre with the likes of Brad Wiggins and Jason Kenny stepping up to the plate and people looking up and taking notice again”, Sutton was quoted saying in The Guardian.
Iain Dyer, the man appointed as head coach by Sutton, said it was down to the athletes and forward planning. Seven games out of seven, not too shabby. I think for the entire team to deliver the performance that they are very likely to deliver now is unheard of.
“I never said they take any drugs or have a bike with engines, but they always seem faster at the Games”, Vogel said.
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“If rigid focus isn’t enough to win gold, consider momentum”. You get the sense something special is happening.
