Kenny ready to ‘wing it’ in Tokyo after early exit
JASON KENNY claimed he will have to ‘wing it’ at the Tokyo Olympics after his early exit in the sprint at the World Championships.
The British track cycling star went out at the last-16 stage and leaves Berlin with just the silver medal he won in the team sprint, having also failed to make Thursday’s Keirin final.
Kenny won golds in all three events at Rio 2016 but is concerned he does not have more races to find form over the next five months.
‘It’s a shame not to get a bit more racing in,’ he said. ‘There’s not that long to go to the Olympics, which start at the end of July. We’ll just have to wing it!’
Kenny has historically gone off the boil between Olympic Games but he made the final of the sprint in the pre-Games World Championships in 2012 and 2016.
Asked if he expects to be challenging in Tokyo, the six-time Olympic gold medallist added: ‘It’s possible. We’ll be focused on turning up there in the best shape possible.’
Jason’s wife Laura has also returned home with only one silver, which she claimed for her part in the team pursuit.
Already nursing a broken shoulder following a crash in Canada last month, she was involved in another pile-up in Friday’s omnium, leaving her needing four stitches above her right eye, which turned black.
Jason was with their two-year-old son Albie in their hotel room when he heard news of Laura’s fall.
‘Albie is used to seeing her with a black eye now,’ he laughed. ‘Maybe she should put her hand out.’
Matt Walls, 21, won Britain’s third medal of these World Championships — the first of his career — last night when he claimed bronze in the omnium.
In the women’s madison, GB’s medal hopes went up in smoke when Neah Evans crashed and she and Elinor Barker ended sixth.
With one day left in Berlin, this could be the first time since 1992 that Great Britain have not won a gold medal at the World Championships in an Olympic year.