Silver medals for Kennys as Team GB slip off the pace
Laura and Jason Kenny were forced to settle for silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics as Great Britain’s crown slipped in the velodrome.
After a decade of British dominance in Olympic track cycling, proof that the rest of the world has caught up came as Laura and the women’s team pursuit squad took silver behind a German team who smashed the world record,whileJasonandthemen’s team sprint squad were comfortably distanced by Holland.
Both still had a better day than the men’s team pursuit squad, kings of the event since 2008, as they were left with no more to fight for than seventh after a dramatic day which ended with Denmark’s Frederick Madsen crashing into Charlie Tanfield.
Laura Kenny had won gold ineveryOlympiceventshehad previously entered, but Britain had looked second best to GermanyinqualifyingonMonday and it had not changed 24 hours later.
The surprise was the eventualmarginofvictory.Thetwo teams looked relatively closely matched in the early rounds, both breaking the world record in the first round, but Germany utterly dominated the final, stopping the clock in four minutes 04.249 seconds – more than six seconds faster than the Brits.
British celebrations for the world record they set in the first round had been cut short when Katie Archibald crashed into Neah Evans after the finish, both left with scars they insisted had not played a major role in their slower time in the final.
Like his wife, Jason Kenny missed the first of his three chances to move clear of Sir ChrisHoy’sOlympicgoldmedaltallyasGreatBritaintooksilver in the men’s team sprint.