It was another superb evening at the Velodrome on Sunday as Jason Kenny drew level with Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Steve Redgrave with five Olympic Gold medals as he beat Callum Skinner in the men’s sprint final.
Elsewhere Mark Cavendish who is aiming to win a Gold in the Omnium produced some superb riding in the first three events, and heading into the final events this evening he is currently in third place behind Italy’s Elia Viviani and France’ Thomas Boudat.
Becky James who won silver in the Keirin on Saturday evening continued her impressive form by reaching the last 16 of the women’s sprint after breaking the Olympic record in qualifying with a time of 10.721secs. And if GB can continue their dominance they might be looking at another 1-2 in the final as James’ teammate Katy Marchant breezed into the last 16 with some impressive riding.
Kenny on target for three Gold’s at Rio
At the start of the track meet, Sir Chris Hoy who has six Olympic medals to his name said that the 28-year-old Kenny could potential win three Gold this summer; a target which probably not many people believed. But the now five-time Olympic champion has proved doubters wrong, again.
And on Tuesday he has the chance to draw level with Hoy as he goes for Gold in the men’s keirin. But last night he showed his class and more importantly his experience as he beat his teammate Skinner in two races.
It was always going to be a tough ask for Skinner to topple the Prince of British sprinting but he gave as good as he got. But in his debut Games, the 23-year-old hasn’t done too badly at all a silver in the men’s sprint, and then a Gold in the men’s team sprint is certainly not a bad return for a debut Games.
James is looking imperious as she is making up for lost time
Laura Trott might be the ‘Golden Girl’ of British track cycling at the moment, but James is proving to be a pretender for that crown as she continued her impressive form last night en-route to the last 16 of the women’s sprint.
James has had a torrid time of things over the past two years; after illness and cancer scares threatened to call time on her career, but in Rio, when it matters most, James is performing spectacularly well.
After finishing second in the keirin on Saturday, James is on cloud nine as she broke the Olympic record with a time 10.721, and that was in the first qualification rounds.
But not to be outdone, her friend and teammate Marchant also produced a complete performance as she produced the second fastest time behind James, and progressed without a problem to the last 16 which take place this evening.
Cav is a man on a mission as he goes in search of that elusive Olympic medal
Cavendish has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in cycling, but the one feat that has got away from him is an Olympic medal.
In 2008 he missed out, and in 2012 where he was the hot favourite in the road race, GB got their tactics wrong. But fast forward another four years, Cavendish is on the hunt again, but this time on the track.
And with the Omnium his focus everyone is hoping it will be third time lucky for the Manxman; and last night he started pretty well with some good performances in the opening three events.
In the 15km scratch race he finished sixth which was a nice start, which meant the 31-year-old got a good chunk of points, leading into what many believe is his weakest event, the 4km individual pursuit.
But he must have been inspired by what had gone on before, and he produced a time of 4min16.878secs, a time which was 10 seconds faster than what he did at the World Championships in London earlier this year. But to many people’s surprise he caught and passed reigning World Omnium champion Fernando Gaviria in the process.
The final event of the evening was the elimination race, he probably should have done a lot better, but a seventh place finish was what he settled for after judges ruled in illegally rode off the track – but it was enough for Cav to finish in third overnight.
And heading into the 1km time-trial, the flying lap, and the points race, Cavendish is in a good position to claim what would be his first Olympic medal.