Double gold for Kenny in blow out sprint final

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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."

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