Jason Kenny took a leap of faith and saw it pay off as the British cycling great landed his seventh Olympic gold medal with an audacious keirin triumph.
The 33-year-old Kenny made an immediate break from the pack in Sunday's final as soon as the derny bike - the motorised bicycle that paces the riders in the early laps - moved aside.
It was a calculated gamble as Kenny surged the best part of half a lap clear of his rivals, who were caught by surprise and only began to seriously narrow the gap in the closing metres.
Kenny, who won his first gold in Beijing, has now been a podium topper at four consecutive Olympic Games and becomes the first athlete from Great Britain to win more than six golds in a career. He had previously been level with fellow cyclist Chris Hoy.
In total, Kenny has nine Olympic medals, with two silvers to go with his stack of gold.
"It is a bit of shock I think," Kenny said. "I really wanted to cross the finish line. Obviously, I am absolutely buzzing."
Asked about his decisive early move, he explained: "It was just too big an opportunity. I didn't really want to be on the front, I felt like I had a bit of a target on my back with these guys behind. When I looked back, I saw a gap, gave it a little squeeze and it got bigger. I just sort of went through it.
"Everyone just looked at each other and it was just enough - I was just lucky it was enough for me to slip away and get my head down.
"I kind of felt like I had nothing to lose, so I put my head down and went through it.
“It was such a long way. I felt like the last lap took me about half an hour. But I got there in the end. I still can’t believe I crossed the line on my own."
Silver went to Malaysian rider Mohd Azizulhasni Awang, and Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen took bronze.
Kenny earned a team sprint silver earlier in his Tokyo 2020 programme but was only eighth in the individual sprint.
To produce a gold-winning display again was a fine way to end his time in Japan's capital, but there was disappointment for his wife, Laura Kenny, whose bid for a hat-trick of omnium titles ended with a sixth-placed finish.
The London 2012 and Rio 2016 champion had a fall in the scratch race and then struggled to get in medal contention, with gold going to American Jennifer Valente, silver to Yumi Kajihara of Japan and bronze to Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands.
Laura Kenny at least enjoyed her husband's success, after privately fearing he would fall short.
"The amount of people who came up to me afterwards and were like 'I'd have counted him out of this' - and to be honest, so had I!" Kenny told BBC Sport.
"I was speaking to him last night and he was like 'I just want to go home'. Then obviously he won - just typical Jason, that."
Gold in the women's sprint went to Canada's Kelsey Mitchell, who edged out Ukraine's Olena Starikova in the final, with Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong beating Germany's Emma Hinze to bronze.
Llori Sharpe claims historic gold for Jamaica at the 2024 Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships
Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) donates JMD$1 million to Jamaica Cycling Federation for equipment upgrade
The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has made a significant contribution to the development of cycling in Jamaica by donating JMD$1 million to the Jamaica Cycling Federation. The grant, aimed at boosting the sport’s progress, was used to purchase vital racing and training equipment, including state-of-the-art smart trainers.
The Jamaica Cycling Federation expressed its gratitude for the financial assistance, highlighting the importance of this investment in elevating the sport’s standards. Smart trainers have become increasingly popular in cycling programs worldwide due to their advanced capabilities, which are integral to modern training methods.
“These smart trainers are game changers,” said a spokesperson for the Federation. “They allow riders and coaches to approach training in a more scientific manner, offering features like measuring and tracking energy output, simulating race routes, and even enabling coaches to remotely access training data.”
This technological upgrade not only enhances training efficiency but also opens up new possibilities for coaches to closely monitor and optimize athletes' performance. The equipment's ability to simulate real-world racing conditions and provide accurate data on rider performance will help Jamaica’s cyclists prepare for international competition with cutting-edge tools.
The JOA's donation represents its ongoing commitment to supporting the development of underrepresented sports in Jamaica. “This contribution from the JOA is truly appreciated and confirms the continued support for the growth and development of sports like cycling,” the Federation said.
The equipment is expected to help Jamaica’s cyclists better prepare for regional and international competitions, as the nation continues to push for excellence across various sporting disciplines.
Dream on: Paul urges young T&T cyclists to keep pushing for Olympic feat as 2028 LA Games in sight
While looking ahead to possibly making another Olympic Games appearance in 2028 in Los Angeles, Trinidad and Tobago’s cycling stalwart, Nicholas Paul, is also hopeful that he will be able to share that occasion with a few more riders from the twin island republic.
Well aware of the depth of the talent that Trinidad and Tobago possesses, Paul, who relished a second-consecutive Olympic Games appearance at the just-concluded Paris showpiece, believes it is very much possible for those cyclists to also achieve their dreams of competing at the global multi-sport event.
The decorated Paul, who has numerous championship medals under his belt, and Kwesi Browne represented Trinidad and Tobago with much gusto and pride in Paris, as they gave their all on the track in both the sprint and keirin events, though both failed to make the finals.
“Team sprint, sprint, Keirin, team pursuit, I just want as many cyclists as possible to be able to make it on the Olympic stage,” Paul told the Express.
“It’s a big, big, big pool of talented young cyclists coming up. I have been trying to be a good role model for them, to let them know that they can come out here because the dream is possible. You just have to work hard. We can make a good driving force from juniors straight up to the elite,” he added.
Having contested both the Sprint and Keirin quarterfinals in Paris, Paul expressed an even deeper desire to improve his standards going forward, especially after watching Australian Matthew Richardson and Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen erase his previous world record of 9.100 in the flying 200 metres.
Lavreysen stopped the clock at 9.088 seconds, mere minutes after Richardson clocked 9.091 seconds.
“It (the quarterfinals) was not the outcome I wanted, but you live, you learn, and you come again. But I’m happy for Harrie. That was a great ride, and at the same time, it’s giving me more hunger to get back on that length to be able to break the world record and get that fast again,” Paul noted.
However, for now, the 25-year-old pointed out that the focus is on rest and recovery ahead of his next major assignment, the UCI Track World Championships scheduled for October 16-20 in Denmark.
“I think I’ll back off a bit, have a bit of a rest, and then go into Worlds. I’m really hungry, but at the same time, the build was until Paris. It was a bit stressful, so I have to ease off and then go into Worlds with as much form as possible,” Paul said.
On that note, Paul also expressed gratitude for the support from Trinidad and Tobago’s sporting enthusiasts, though some comments were not welcoming of the athletes’ overall efforts in Paris.
“I never think about the negatives because we could only work with the positives, and we have a lot of positives to work with. Moving forward, us athletes should come together and try to make Trinidad and Tobago better as a whole. Athletics, cycling, and every sport; to raise the level not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the Caribbean,” he ended.
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