...as Laura foursome bags GB’s 9th gold
IT SEEMED scarcely conceivable that she would eclipse her epic performance of London 2012.
But as history was made on a day of high drama at the Rio Olympics yesterday, Laura Trott did just that – leading Britain’s cycling golden girls to victory in the velodrome and a new world record in the team pursuit.
They had already broken the world record in a qualifying heat. Then, in the final, Trott, 24, and her teammates Joanna Rowsell Shand, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker triumphed over their US rivals, delivering yet another stunning success for Team GB.
They celebrated with beaming smiles and holding up the Union Jack. Trott said: ‘It just felt like this machine had finally come together.’
And Victoria Pendleton, a British Olympic gold medallist from four years ago, said of the resounding victory: ‘That is an annihilation right there.’
There was more cycling glory for Britain as 24-year-old Becky James came from near the back of the field to claim silver in a dramatic finish to the keirin.
Earlier, in the rowing, the GB men’s eight beat Germany to win gold and reclaim the Olympic title for the first time since 2000.
Overall it was an a Team GB celebrate after victory. Right: Katie Archibald and Laura Trott enjoy a lap of honour magnificent day for British sport. Great Britain now stands a proud third in the medals table, with only the USA and China ahead. The cycling gold meant Team GB athletes had collected 26 medals, including nine golds – roughly matching the performance of London 2012 at the same stage. ‘We have surpassed expectations – it’s fantastic,’ said a Team GB spokesman. There is every chance of further success today, with Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Britain’s sailors in action.
The women’s team pursuit race, which turned Rio’s velodrome into a cauldron of noise, ended with a thrilling tussle between Trott’s team and the formidable quartet from the United States.
The Team GB record time was four minutes 10.236 seconds.
As she crossed the line, Trott became the first British female to win three Olympic golds, marking another extraordinary chapter in the career of a young woman who has taken the sport by storm.
By the end of the Games, she and fiancee Jason Kenny – cycling’s reigning golden couple – could well lay claim to the title of our greatest ever Olympians.
The medals rush was triggered in the early hours in the swimming centre when Jazz Carlin won silver in the 800 metres freestyle. Having already secured silver in the 400m freestyle, she is, for now at least, our first Rio double medallist.
Afterwards, in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said it felt ‘incredible to be part of Super Saturday and to add two medals to the Team GB tally’.
Recalling her debilitating bout of glandular fever, which ruled her out of London 2012, she said: ‘My confidence was shattered and I didn’t think I had it in me. I was seriously thinking about giving it all up. But now I’m so glad I didn’t.’
If her first medal was ‘beyond expectation’ her second, she said, felt a bit surreal. ‘And it still hasn’t sunk in yet.’
Great Britain finished top of the rowing medals table with five – three golds and two silvers.