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Three medals in three events for Great Britain completed a tale of dominance over six days at the London velodrome, with Sir Chris Hoy winning gold in the men’s Keirin in commanding style, while Victoria Pendleton had to settle for silver in a dramatic women’s sprint final against Anna Meares. But it was joy for Laura Trott who snatched gold from the grasp of Sarah Hammer in a thrilling Omnium finale.
Sir Chris Hoy went with two laps to go, just as he had in the earlier rounds, just as he had dozens of times before. The Scot is the most powerful front-runner the Keirin has ever seen. He hits the front and he never fades.
Except this time, Maximilian Levy hit back. The German passed Hoy and for a heart-stopping moment the gold medal looked in doubt.
But Hoy managed to summon a second burst of speed as they came round the final bend into the finishing straight and as he crossed the line the roar almost sheared the roof off the velodrome.
Hoy called it the perfect end to his Olympic career. “I’m 99.9 per cent certain I won’t be in Rio. How can you top this?” he said. But what a way to bow out. Hoy is the first Briton to win six Olympic gold medals, making him the nation’s greatest Olympic athlete.
The manner of his victory in the final made it all the more special.
It wasn’t a formality, Hoy had to work hard, he had to make split- second decisions and he had to take risks. The entire story of British Cycling’s success seemed to be encapsulated in that one race. The fact it was the final race after six afternoons of scintilating action in the velodrome was fitting too.
Hoy’s progress to the final was silky smooth. He was a comfortable winner of his opening round, ahead of Simon Van Velthooven of New Zealand. In the semi-final, the Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang tried to unsettle Hoy. There could be no greater contrast in styles between the two but in the end Hoy’s power won through.
But the final was a different story. It was a tactical race, the opposition were not willing to lie down and allow another home victory. Levy, in particular, was brilliant and thoroughly deserved the silver medal. It was so close between Van Velthooven and Mulder, and the photo finish inconclusive, that they were both awarded bronze medals.
The first British medal of a sensational final day went to 20-year-old Laura Trott in the women’s omnium. It came down to a thrilling 500- metre time trial showdown with the American rider Sarah Hammer.
Hammer won the 3,000-metre individual pursuit in the morning session, just a second ahead of Trott, to open up a one-point lead going into the penultimate event, the scratch race.
By now the medals looked to be between Hammer and Trott, who were in the strongest position for gold, with Annette Edmondson of Australia and Tara Whitten of Canada locked in a battle for bronze.
The scratch was a fast, aggressive race but Trott was always alert, particularly in the closing stages when she stuck to Hammer like glue.
Edmondson won, with Hammer in second and Trott third.
The equation was simple. With Hammer two points ahead, Trott needed to win the 500-metre time trial and hope Hammer could manage no better than fourth place, otherwise they would be separated by their times in the three timed events.
Trott scorched round the track, stopping the clock on 35.110 seconds and pipping Edmondson by just three hundreths of a second. Hammer was fourth, which meant Trott won her second gold medal of the Games by a single point.
There was not to be a fairytale ending to Victoria Pendleton’s Olympic career but she gave everything in her final against Anna Meares of Australia.
Match sprinting can hinge on a single moment and there was none more critical than the clash as they came into the finishing straight in the first race of their gold medal final.
Meares, always a gutsy, determined and aggressive competitor bumped elbows with Pendleton and the British rider moved out of her lane.
Although Pendleton won the sprint, the judges took a dim view of the video. The footage told the story – Pendleton had moved outside her lane three times, if only for a fraction of a second at a time, and it was enough to relegate her.
The second race was another tactical battle. Pendleton thought about going for a long one but when Meares reacted, she had second thoughts, which gave the Australian the initiative. It was all the encouragement Meares needed and she rolled through to take the gold medal and reverse the result of the final in Beijing four years ago.
However, Pendleton ends her career with a silver medal to add to the gold medals she won in the Keirin last week and in Beijing.
Guo Shuang of China won the bronze ahead of Kristina Vogel, who had lost to Pendleton in the semi-final.
They said Britain’s tally of seven gold medals from the velodrome in Beijing could never been repeated. It has been equalled.
Great Britain won seven of the ten gold medals on offer on the track.
Only the disqualification of Pendleton and Jess Varnish in the team sprint prevented them from winning a medal in every event.
It was an extraordinary level of performance across the board. They topped qualification tables and smashed world records. They attracted the great and the good from the worlds of politics, sport and showbiz.
And in the process, they inspired a generation.
BRITAIN’S TRACK MEDAL HAUL
Men
Team pursuit: Gold (Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Geraint Thomas, Peter
Kennaugh)
Omnium: Bronze (Ed Clancy)
Team sprint: Gold (Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny, Sir Chris Hoy)
Sprint: Gold (Jason Kenny)
Keirin: Gold (Sir Chris Hoy)
Women
Team pursuit: Gold (Joanna Rowsell, Dani King, Laura Trott) Women’s omnium: Gold (Laura Trott) Team sprint: disqualified
Sprint: Silver (Victoria Pendleton)
Keirin: Gold (Victoria Pendleton)
Results
Women’s Sprint
Gold Medal Final
Victoria Pendleton (GBR) v Anna Meares (AUS)
Match one: Meares
Match two: Meares
Winner: Anna Meares (AUS)
Bronze Medal Final
Shuang Guo (CHN) v Kristina Vogel (GER)
Match one: Guo
Match two: Guo
Winner: Shuang Guo (CHN)
Semi Finals
Heat 1: Victoria Pendleton (GBR) v Kristina Vogel (GER)
Match one: Pendleton
Match two: Pendleton
Winner: Victoria Pendleton (GBR)
Heat 2: Anna Meares (AUS) v Shuang Guo (CHN)
Match one: Meares
Match two: Meares
Winner: Anna Meares (AUS)
Men's Keirin
Finals
Final 7th-12th
7 PHILLIP Njisane Nicholas
8 BOURGAIN Mickael
9 VOLIKAKIS Christos
10 PERALTA GASCON Juan
11 WATANABE Kazunari
12 CANELON Hersony
Main Final
1 HOY Chris
2 LEVY Maximilian
3 van VELTHOOVEN Simon
3 MULDER Teun
5 PERKINS Shane
6 AWANG Azizulhasni
Second Round
Heat 1
1 HOY Chris Q
2 AWANG Azizulhasni Q
3 MULDER Teun Q
4 PHILLIP Njisane Nicholas
5 PERALTA GASCON Juan
6 VOLIKAKIS Christos
Heat 2
1 LEVY Maximilian Q
2 van VELTHOOVEN Simon Q
3 PERKINS Shane Q
4 BOURGAIN Mickael
5 CANELON Hersony
6 WATANABE Kazunari
First Round - Repechage
Heat 1
1 VOLIKAKIS Christos Q
2 PERALTA GASCON Juan Q
3 PHILLIP Njisane Nicholas Q
4 VELOCE Joseph
5 BORISOV Sergey
6 ZHANG Miao REL
Heat 2
1 WATANABE Kazunari Q
2 CANELON Hersony Q
3 PERKINS Shane Q
4 KUCZYNSKI Kamil
5 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando
6 SPICKA Denis
First Round
Heat 1
1 HOY Chris Q
2 van VELTHOOVEN Simon Q
3 PERALTA GASCON Juan R
4 PHILLIP Njisane Nicholas R
5 BORISOV Sergey R
6 WATANABE Kazunari R
Heat 2
1 LEVY Maximilian Q
2 MULDER Teun Q
3 CANELON Hersony R
4 KUCZYNSKI Kamil R
5 PERKINS Shane R
6 ZHANG Miao R
Heat 3
1 BOURGAIN Mickael Q
2 AWANG Azizulhasni Q
3 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando R
4 VELOCE Joseph R
5 SPICKA Denis R
6 VOLIKAKIS Christos R
Women's Omnium
Round 6 - 500m TT
1 TROTT Laura 35.11 1 pts
2 EDMONDSON Annette 35.14 2 pts
3 SANCHEZ Clara 35.451 3 pts
4 HAMMER Sarah 35.9 4 pts
5 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies 35.912 5 pts
6 HUANG Li 36.315 6 pts
7 KIESANOWSKI Joanne 36.36 7 pts
8 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire 36.393 8 pts
9 HSIAO Mei Yu 36.482 9 pts
10 WHITTEN Tara 36.509 10 pts
11 LEE Minhye 36.547 11 pts
12 D'HOORE Jolien 36.585 12 pts
13 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana 36.748 13 pts
14 WOJTYRA Malgorzata 36.79 14 pts
15 WILD Kirsten 37.152 15 pts
16 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya 37.308 16 pts
17 GONZALEZ Angie 37.578 17 pts
18 CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa 37.937 18 pts
Final overall standings
1 TROTT Laura 18 pts
2 HAMMER Sarah 19 pts
3 EDMONDSON Annette 24 pts
4 WHITTEN Tara 37 pts
5 D'HOORE Jolien 45 pts
6 WILD Kirsten 50 pts
7 KIESANOWSKI Joanne 55 pts
8 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies 57 pts
9 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana 59 pts
10 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya 61 pts
11 WOJTYRA Malgorzata 63 pts
12 HUANG Li 67 pts
13 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire 69 pts
14 SANCHEZ Clara 72 pts
15 LEE Minhye 74 pts
16 CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa 76 pts
17 HSIAO Mei Yu 85 pts
18 GONZALEZ Angie 95 pts
Round 5 - Scratch Race
1 EDMONDSON Annette
2 HAMMER Sarah
3 TROTT Laura
4 WILD Kirsten
5 D'HOORE Jolien
6 WHITTEN Tara
7 KIESANOWSKI Joanne
8 HUANG Li
9 LEE Minhye
10 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya
11 CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa
12 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana
13 WOJTYRA Malgorzata
14 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies
15 HSIAO Mei Yu
16 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire
17 GONZALEZ Angie
18 SANCHEZ Clara
Overall standings after round 5
1 HAMMER Sarah 15 pts
2 TROTT Laura 17 pts
3 EDMONDSON Annette 22 pts
4 WHITTEN Tara 27 pts
5 D'HOORE Jolien 33 pts
6 WILD Kirsten 35 pts
7 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya 45 pts
8 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana 46 pts
9 KIESANOWSKI Joanne 48 pts
10 WOJTYRA Malgorzata 49 pts
11 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies 52 pts
12 CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa 58 pts
13 HUANG Li 61 pts
14 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire 61 pts
15 LEE Minhye 63 pts
16 SANCHEZ Clara 69 pts
17 HSIAO Mei Yu 76 pts
18 GONZALEZ Angie 78 pts
Round 4 - 3km Pursuit
1 United States of America HAMMER Sarah 3:29.554 1pt
2 Great Britain TROTT Laura 3:30.547 2pts
3 Canada WHITTEN Tara 3:31.114 3pts
4 Australia EDMONDSON Annette 3:35.958 4pts
5 Belarus SHARAKOVA Tatsiana 3:38.301 5pts
6 Netherlands WILD Kirsten 3:39.741 6pts
7 Colombia CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa 3:40.349 7pts
8 Belgium D'HOORE Jolien 3:41.495 8pts
9 Cuba MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies 3:41.897 9pts
10 Russian Federation ROMANYUTA Evgeniya 3:42.301 10pts
11 New Zealand KIESANOWSKI Joanne 3:44.971 11pts
12 Poland WOJTYRA Malgorzata 3:45.083 12pts
13 People's Republic of China HUANG Li 3:45.610 13pts
14 Spain OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire 3:46.317 14pts
15 Republic of Korea LEE Minhye 3:46.871 15pts
16 Taipei (Chinese Taipei) HSIAO Mei Yu 3:49.051 16pts
17 Venezuela GONZALEZ Angie 3:54.926 17pts
18 France SANCHEZ Clara 3:56.800 18pts
Overall standings after round 4
1 HAMMER Sarah 13 pts
2 TROTT Laura 14 pts
3 WHITTEN Tara 21 pts
4 EDMONDSON Annette 21 pts
5 D'HOORE Jolien 28 pts
6 WILD Kirsten 31 pts
7 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana 34 pts
8 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya 35 pts
9 WOJTYRA Malgorzata 36 pts
10 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies 38 pts
11 KIESANOWSKI Joanne 41 pts
12 OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire 45 pts
13 CALLE WILLIAMS Maria Luisa 47 pts
14 SANCHEZ Clara 51 pts
15 HUANG Li 53 pts
16 LEE Minhye 54 pts
17 HSIAO Mei Yu 61 pts
18 GONZALEZ Angie 61 pts
