Laura and Jason Kenny settled 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 finished second to a German team who smashed the world record, while Jason and the men’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 began with the snap retirement of Ed Clancy and ended with Denmark’s Frederick Madsen crashing into Charlie Tanfield.
Britain had looked second best to Germany in the women’s team pursuit qualifying on Monday, and it had not changed 24 hours later.
“Our target time was a (4:06),” said Laura Kenny, who had helped Britain win gold and set world records in every round at the two previous Olympics where the women’s team pursuit was contested.
“We just never expected anyone else to go and do a (4:04). I think we should be really proud of doing a 4:06, that’s really going some. Right now, it just feels a bit disappointing that we didn’t get gold by doing so.”
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.
“As an athlete, you want to win everything,” she said. “I don’t think it’s any harder for me than it is anyone else taking silver. We set our hearts on gold, we wanted to win gold, so yeah we are going to feel disappointed…
“(Germany) were phenomenal, you can’t take anything away from them. That is incredible, that’s going to be a record that stands for a long time I think.”
Jason missed the first of his three chances to move clear of Sir Chris Hoy’s Olympic gold medal tally as Great Britain took silver in the men’s team sprint.
“It’s nice,” he said of matching Wiggins. “I limped over the line with a silver!”
Laura revealed Tuesday was the first time Jason had ever admitted being nervous before competition, clearly aware of the challenge posed by a Dutch squad undefeated in a team sprint event since 2017.
“We did the same thing we always do,” Jason said. “We came and emptied the tanks. We did our best ride I think. We pretty much nailed it in the first round and then we rolled the dice and went after the win.
“It didn’t go our way but they were better than us, simple as that. We knew we had to get better in the past few years, we have improved a lot and made a reasonable step but it was not enough.”
Kenny still has two more chances to add to his medal haul in these Games, due to compete in Friday’s individual sprint before Sunday’s keirin, but the challenge of beating the Dutch has clearly got no easier.
