JOIN USBritain's Jason Kenny won the men's track cycling keirin on Tuesday, taking his gold medal haul to six and equalling Chris Hoy's record for the country's most Olympic titles.
In a race that was controversially restarted twice without disqualifying any riders, Kenny ultimately had too much pace down the final stretch, recovering from a slow start to finish just clear. It was his third triumph in Rio, having won in the team sprint and the men's sprint before the keirin.
After taking gold, Kenny embraced his fiancee and fellow gold medal winner Laura Trott, who was in tears in the centre of the track. Hoy, the sprint cyclist great whose record haul Kenny matched, cheered from the balcony.
"It just felt like a dream. I guess I'm tired. I was just floating through it," Kenny said.
Matthijs Buchli of the Netherlands won silver and Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang took bronze.
The final was twice stopped after riders were judged to have overtaken too soon the back wheel of the electric bike that sets the pace in early laps.
Usually the riders responsible are disqualified, but on Tuesday, after minutes of tense deliberation, the race was restarted with all six cyclists. The second time, again no riders were disqualified.
That was fortunate for Kenny, who along with Awang was at the front when the gun was fired to stop the first race.
Trott wins
Four races in two Olympics. Four gold medals for Laura Trott.Not bad for a woman who says she still feels "like a little girl riding around on her bicycle".
Britain's Trott romped to victory in the women's track cycling omnium on the Rio boards on Tuesday, leaving her rivals trailing in her tyre tracks and scrapping for podium places.
In winning the multi-discipline, two-day event and beating American veteran Sarah Hammer by a massive 24-point margin, she matched her feat at London 2012 when her team pursuit and omnium titles made her the new golden girl of British cycling.
Last week she led the team pursuit quartet to victory in a world record time,
becoming the first British woman to win a total of three Olympic gold medals. Now she has four and at the age of 24 there is no telling how many she might eventually collect.
All Trott's gold medals have been at the expense of Hammer, the American who must be sick of the sight of her rear wheel.
Reuters