Sprint, Men

Jason Kenny of Great Britain had won the Olympic title in front of his home crowd in 2012 with a dominant display of sprinting, but his form dipped considerably in the years between London and Rio. At the beginning of the 2015-2016 track season few would have picked Kenny to repeat his feat of 2012, but he suddenly regained his best form at the 2016 World Championships, where he won the sprint title for the first time in five years.

Kenny set an Olympic record in the qualifying round to finish ahead of teammate Callum Skinner and the pair then proceeded to cut a swathe through their opposition. Only in the semi-final did either of the duo suffer the risk of elimination. Denis Dmitriyev of Russia took race one of the semi-final against Kenny, becoming the first non-British rider to win a heat against a British rider since 2004, but Kenny recovered to win in three races.

The final was an anti-climax as Kenny’s superior track craft proved too much for his less experienced opponent and he won with a heat to spare. Dmitriyev’s match against Australian Matthew Glaetzer was equally as one sided in the Russian’s favour. Kenny became only the third man to retain an Olympic title in this event after Daniel Morelon and Jens Fiedler.