Great Britain confirms track cycling dominance with two more golds on final day
Jason Kenny wins keirin and Laura Trott wins omnium as Team GB ends with six of 10 gold medals up for grabs
Golden couple: Laura Trott and Jason Kenny, who are engaged to be married, both won gold (Photo: Getty Images/Brynn Lennon)
The final day of track cycling at Rio 2016 proved to be another fruitful one for Great Britain. Of the three gold medals up for grabs at the Olympic Velodrome, British riders won two of them, and took silver and bronze in the other event.
In all, Great Britain won six of the 10 track cycling medals up for grabs at the Games, plus four silvers and one bronze. At the London 2012 Games, British riders won seven of the 10 titles, plus one silver and one gold.
Jason Kenny capped another dynamic cycling performance with the gold medal in the keirin, his third in Rio de Janeiro and the sixth for his team. Dutch rider Matthijs Buchli took silver and Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang took bronze.
"At my first Olympics in Beijing I knew we had something special to build on," said Kenny. "We did so well in Beijing, we matched in it London. We never thought we'd get anywhere near it here, but we've turned up and done the business again."
Kenny nearly was disqualified when he joined Awang in sprinting too early along the backstretch. The race was halted as jurors reviewed film and ultimately decided on a full-field restart.
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The race was halted again on the second try when Germany's Joachim Eilers sprinted early.
Kenny's fiancée, Laura Trott, defended her title in the women's omnium, adding to the gold medal she won in the team pursuit competition. It was a stunning tactical ride from the Briton. With one eye on her closest rivals at every stage of the 25km race, her position at the top of the leaderboard soon became unassailable after the halfway point.
"I still feel like that little girl just riding around on a bike, but now I have all these gold medals," Trott said.
USA's Sarah Hammer and Belgium's Jolien D'Hoore battled until the bitter end over the silver and bronze, with the American coming out on top.
If there was one person who could ruin Britain’s day it was Kristina Vogel. The German edged out favourite Rebecca James in both races to walk away with the gold.
Katy Marchant’s win in the bronze medal race meant Vogel was joined by two Britons on the podium.
