Double gold for Kenny in blow out sprint final

After laying his cards down on the table in the qualifying round, daring his competitors to match his Olympic record pace, Great Britain's Jason Kenny went undefeated through the three days of men's individual sprint tournament to claim his second gold medal of the 2012 Olympic Games. In two races, he dispatched Frenchman Grégory Baugé, who won the silver medal. Shane Perkins (Australia) claimed bronze over Njisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago).

Kenny's gold medal was Great Britain's fifth of track cycling. He also became his country's only double gold medalist of the Games so far. Yet he was a somewhat controversial selection from the British Cycling federation, which opted to leave the defending champion Chris Hoy on the bench and go with the 24-year-old instead for track cycling's marquee event. But Kenny did not let nerves get to him, even though he had been defeated by Baugé at the world championships in Melbourne.

"It's amazing. I hadn't thought about it until the last lap, then it suddenly dawned on me," Kenny said of the victory. "It was quite the battle to get here with Chris. I didn't want to mess that one up. I was really pleased. I just did it for the team. It's pretty amazing."

It was expected that Kenny would face a more tactical battle with the Frenchman, but in the end both races came down to pure speed rather than raw power, a race which fell in the Briton's favour. The French world champion tried different tactics: keeping the pace slow when he had to lead to try and take the edge off Kenny's unbeatable flying sprint, or going for the early jump, but in both cases Kenny was as smart and even quicker. Baugé never came closer than his front hub.

"I am really pleased about that. We're really close. At the worlds and the year before, he's been the slightly faster rider. Three days ago, I qualified a little bit quicker, and again the race has come down to that. I like racing against Baugé, he's a real pro rider and it always makes for some pretty exciting racing. I am really pleased."

Baugé himself was none too pleased to have his status as the world's top sprinter stripped from him in such an overwhelming manner. "I've got nothing to say. I've done my sprint, I think I haven't made any mistake along the two matches. This is sport, small details worked in his favour. I have no regrets."

There has not been a time when Kenny has defeated the Frenchman in a major sprint tournament: Kenny was awarded the 2011 world title only after Baugé was stripped of the title due to whereabouts violations, and in Melbourne it was Baugé who won the day. Indeed, had his 2011 result held, Baugé would have been world champion each year since the Beijing Games.

"I don't like losing. This is a defeat in a big event, it angers me. This is a failure for me personally," Baugé said. "It is four years that I've dominated in my discipline. I wanted gold, it's a disappointment. I do not train twice a day for this disappointment.

"We have to look at the big picture. I've reached five finals in big events in four years, I'm the world champion, I'm still the number one, he beat me, unfortunately,"

Kenny's win capped off an enormously successful five days of racing on the track for Great Britain - his part in the team sprint gold and his individual gold added to the British men's and women's team pursuit titles and Victoria Pendleton's keirin gold to bring the tally up to five plus Ed Clancy's omnium silver medal.

It was the second silver medal of the week for France, the first came from young omnium competitor Bryan Coquard on Sunday.

A bronze medal was some consolation for the Australian Shane Perkins. His win over Njisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago) was nearly a formality, but the underdog 21-year-old did not go down without a fight. Phillip tried in both cases to get the jump on Perkins, but both times the Australian timed his acceleration perfectly to win the bronze in two.

It was the second bronze for the Australians, who fared much better at their home world championships. Perkins' medal added to silver by their men's team pursuiters and bronze by the women's team sprint.

"It's not the medal I wanted," Perkins said. "It's my first Olympics, and I got a medal out of it."

His performance was hampered somewhat by a virus which hit him in the days before the start of the London Games. He was put out of his dorm room to save his teammates from catching it, and he struggled with being unable to sleep. He finally overcame that in the morning, feeling rested and ready to win the bronze.

"Waking up this morning and actually feeling good, not crook, and wanting to go back to sleep gave me a bit of confidence in itself and obviously the racing tonight shows me the form's there," he said, looking forward to tomorrow's keirin.

"I think some of the guys to watch didn't actually ride the sprint, so I think we go back and look at some of the videos and see what we are up against. Having a few wins under my belt gives me the confidence to go out and do my best."

For Phillip, the fourth place result was something unexpected, and he did not make the win easy for Perkins. "Placing fourth is a good stepping stone for me. I think that is my best result in the senior circuit so I can hold my head high and be really proud of myself.

"It shows me that my hard work is paying off and I am getting closer and closer to those guys (the medallists). It's not a blow-out like it was at the World Cup so I'm really happy with it - it's fourth place at the Olympics. I didn't get the bronze and I really really wanted to get that medal but everything takes time so I'm just sitting back."

Full Results

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Men's Sprint Semi-Final Race One - Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.159
2Nijisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Semi-Final Race One - Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.166
2Nijisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Semi-Final Race Two - Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.358
2Shane Perkins (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Semi-Final Race Two - Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.268
2Shane Perkins (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Finals - Gold medal ride, Heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.232
2Gregory Bauge (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Finals - Bronze medal ride, Heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
3Shane Perkins (Australia)0:00:10.489
4Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Finals - Gold medal ride, Heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.308
2Gregory Bauge (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint Finals - Bronze medal ride, Heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
3Shane Perkins (Australia)0:00:10.297
4Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's Sprint final standings
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
2Gregory Bauge (France)
3Shane Perkins (Australia)
4Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago)
5Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation)
6Jimmy Watkins (United States of America)
7Robert Forstemann (Germany)
8Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
9Seiichiro Nakagawa (Japan)
10Pavel Kelemen (Czech Republic)
11Bernard Esterhuizen (South Africa)
12Hersony Canelon (Venezuela)
13Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China)
14Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)
15Damian Zielinski (Poland)
16Hodei Mazquiaran Uria (Spain)
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Women's Omnium - 250m Flying Lap
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Laura Trott (Great Britain)0:00:14.057
2Clara Sanchez (France)0:00:00.001
3Annette Edmonson (Australia)0:00:00.204
4Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)0:00:00.278
5Sarah Hammer (USA)0:00:00.312
6Leire Olaberria (Spain)0:00:00.406
7Tara Whitten (Canada)0:00:00.459
8Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba)0:00:00.497
9Li Huang (China)0:00:00.514
10Jolien D'Hoore (Belgium)0:00:00.537
11Mei Yu Hsiao (Taipei)0:00:00.605
12Tasiana Sharakova (Belarus)0:00:00.644
13Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)0:00:00.697
14Minhye Lee (South Korea)0:00:00.736
15Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia)0:00:00.852
16Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)0:00:00.867
17Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela)0:00:01.058
18Maria Calle Williams (Colombia)0:00:01.502
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Women's Ominum: Points Race
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)34pts
2Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)28Row 1 - Cell 3
3Tara Whitten (Canada)28Row 2 - Cell 3
4Jolien d'Hoore (Belgium)25Row 3 - Cell 3
5Sarah Hammer (United States of America)25Row 4 - Cell 3
6Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation)24Row 5 - Cell 3
7Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)22Row 6 - Cell 3
8Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia)22Row 7 - Cell 3
9Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela)20Row 8 - Cell 3
10Laura Trott (Great Britain)14Row 9 - Cell 3
11Annette Edmondson (Australia)10Row 10 - Cell 3
12Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba)4Row 11 - Cell 3
13Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain)3Row 12 - Cell 3
14Minhye Lee (Republic of Korea)3Row 13 - Cell 3
15Li Huang (People's Republic of China)2Row 14 - Cell 3
16Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)2Row 15 - Cell 3
17Mei Yu Hsiao (Taipei (Chinese Taipei))2Row 16 - Cell 3
18Clara Sanchez (France)Row 17 - Cell 2 Row 17 - Cell 3
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Women's omnium standings after two events
#Rider Name (Country) TeamHeader Cell - Column 2
1Sarah Hammer (United States of America)10
2Tara Whitten (Canada)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Laura Trott (Great Britain)11
4Annette Edmondson (Australia)14
5Jolien d'Hoore (Belgium)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain)19
9Clara Sanchez (France)20
10Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation)21
13Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)23
14Li Huang (People's Republic of China)24
15Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela)26
16Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia)Row 15 - Cell 2
17Mei Yu Hsiao (Taipei (Chinese Taipei))28
18Minhye Lee (Republic of Korea)Row 17 - Cell 2
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Women's Omnium: Elimination
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2Sarah Hammer (United States of America)
3Annette Edmondson (Australia)
4Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation)
5Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
6Jolien D'hoore (Belgium)
7Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)
8Tara Whitten (Canada)
9Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba)
10Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)
11Minhye Lee (Republic of Korea)
12Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain)
13Clara Sanchez (France)
14Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia)
15Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)
16Li Huang (People's Republic of China)
17Mei Yu Hsiao (Taipei (Chinese Taipei))
18Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela)
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Women's Omnium: Standings after three rounds (end of day 5)
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Laura Trott (Great Britain)12pts
2Sarah Hammer (United States of America)12Row 1 - Cell 3
3Annette Edmondson (Australia)17Row 2 - Cell 3
4Tara Whitten (Canada)18Row 3 - Cell 3
5Jolien D'hoore (Belgium)20Row 4 - Cell 3
6Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)24Row 5 - Cell 3
7Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)25Row 6 - Cell 3
8Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation)25Row 7 - Cell 3
9Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba)29Row 8 - Cell 3
10Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)29Row 9 - Cell 3
11Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)30Row 10 - Cell 3
12Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain)31Row 11 - Cell 3
13Clara Sanchez (France)33Row 12 - Cell 3
14Minhye Lee (Republic of Korea)39Row 13 - Cell 3
15Li Huang (People's Republic of China)40Row 14 - Cell 3
16Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia)40Row 15 - Cell 3
17Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela)44Row 16 - Cell 3
18Mei Yu Hsiao (Taipei (Chinese Taipei))45Row 17 - Cell 3
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race One Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)0:00:11.226
2Olga Panarina (Belarus)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race One Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)0:00:11.339
2Olga Panarina (Belarus)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Two Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Anna Meares (Australia)0:00:11.465
2Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Two Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Anna Meares (Australia)0:00:11.573
2Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Three Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba)0:00:11.536
2Shuang Guo (China)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Three Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Shuang Guo (China)0:00:11.283
2Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Three Heat Three
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Shuang Guo (China)0:00:11.337
2Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Four Heat One
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kristina Vogel (Germany)0:00:11.541
2Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Sprint 1/4 Final Race Four Heat Two
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kristina Vogel (Germany)0:00:11.568
2Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Women's sprint 5th - 8th finals
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
5Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)0:00:11.812
6Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba)Row 1 - Cell 2
7Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)Row 2 - Cell 2
8Olga Panarina (Belarus)Row 3 - Cell 2

 

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