Jason Kenny became only the third male cyclist to defend his Olympic Games individual sprint crown, beating teammate Callum Skinner in the Rio velodrome to win his fifth gold medal. The Bolton speedster beat his friend and roommate by winning the first two races in the best-of-three final, with Russia's Denis Dmitriev taking the bronze medal. Team GB have now won four of the six gold medals awarded on the track so far, with Skinner's silver and Becky James's second place in Saturday's keirin giving the team six medals. For Kenny, he now joins Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Steve Redgrave on five gold medals, with a chance to match Sir Chris Hoy's tally of six in the keirin.
“It did take me back to Beijing a little bit," Kenny said, looking back to when he and Hoy raced for gold against each other in Beijing. "I remember sitting having breakfast with Chris that morning and it was a bit of the same this time. "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. It’s just better to be with someone who’s going through the same thing." Skinner and Kenny are sharing an apartment in at the Rio 2016 Games, but Kenny insists last night was just like any other, despite the looming showdown between the pair.
“We’re sharing a room in an apartment. [Last night] we did the same thing we normally do, had dinner, went to bed, had breakfast, had lunch and came here – it’s really boring.
“We’ve raced each other a thousand times. What we do on the track has no bearing over what we do outside it."
In the women's sprint, both James and Katy Marchant made it through to the next round, beating Olga Ismayilova (Azerbaijan) and Monique Sullivan (Canada) respectively. And Mark Cavendish set the second fastest time in the men's omnium individual pursuit round, placing him third overall heading into the elimination race.
The Manxman remains third overall after being the ninth rider eliminated from the day’s final race, behind Elia Viviani (Italy) and Thomas Boudat (France).