Sports
Tokyo Olympics: Jason Kenny wins seventh gold medal, becomes most decorated Briton Olympian
Tokyo: Jason Kenny has become Britain’s most decorated Olympian after winning seventh gold medal in the men’s keirin at Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Sunday.
Kenny took his gold medal tally to seven, one more than his fellow keirin specialist Chris Hoy. It is his ninth Olympic medal overall including seven gold and two silver.
Kenny had qualified for the keirin final after taking the back wheel of British team-mate Jack Carlin in the semi-final.
Expectations that the final would be a conventional sprint for the finish evaporated when Kenny dropped the chasing group with an explosive turn of speed with half the six-lap race still to go.
The gap was almost as wide when Kenny crossed the finish line 0.763 seconds from Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia.
However, Harrie Lavreysen from Netherlands took the bronze.
Kenny was over the moon with his latest Olympic victory saying, “It is a bit of shock I think, and I really wanted to cross the finish line. Obviously, I am absolutely buzzing. Going into the final I didn’t expect anything other than a five, really. I was hoping to kind of get stuck in, and hopefully come away with some silverware. To win at the corner on my own like that is absolutely buzzing”.
When asked about winning a historic seventh gold medal, the cyclist pointed to the hard years of training that go into becoming an Olympic champion.
“They are all special, they are all different, and they are all really hard to get. In a four or five-year gap, you look back, and it just seems so easy in your memory. You watch videos and it looks so easy, you forget the hard work that goes into it. I fought really hard for them all," he added.