Laura Kenny wins historic FIFTH Olympic gold alongside Katie Archibald in dominant Madison win for Team GB
LAURA Kenny and Kate Archibald rode the Madison of their lives to claim more GB gold.
In a stunning display of team riding, the pair – part of the pursuit quartet destroyed by Germany in Tuesday’s final – came back in brilliant fashion.
They utterly dominated the most confusing race on the programme, leaving the field for dead by winning TEN of the 12 intermediate and final sprints and taking a lap out of all their rivals except Denmark.
Kenny, rightly, executed the final blow, as she crossed the line four lengths clear.
Their tally of 78 points was a staggering 43 clear of the Danes, with Russia taking third as the vaunted Dutch never recovered from a huge crash a quarter of the way in.
It was Kenny’s fifth Games gold after two each in London and Rio, her sixth medal in total, lifting her back over Charlotte Dujardin as Britain’s greatest female Olympian.
Kenny told BBC: “I’ve never wanted to win a medal so much in all my life.
“I messaged [husband] Jason and said I feel like my Olympics ends today.
“I love the team pursuit but I felt relief when it was over because this was the one race I wanted to win – I just feel so relieved.”
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What started as if it would be a two-horse race between the two Brits and Holland’s Amy Pieters and Kirsten Wild turned into a procession of immaculate cycling.
Archibald and Kenny timed their takeovers superbly to win the first three sprints, with the Dutch immediately behind in each of them.
Six points was an advantage but far from a huge one with 120 laps of the velodrome in all to make up the 30km.
But as the bell sounded for the fifth sprint Wild clipped the wheel of Australia’s Georgia Baker, taking out three other riders as she hit the boards.
That gifted Archibald and Kenny another five points, which they added to again by going clear in the sixth sprint as well.
It meant a lead of 14 points, suddenly really significant, with the Dutch shaken and not in contention for the mid-way points.
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And when Archibald and Kenny led a breakaway with France to take the next three sprints as well – making it EIGHT out of nine, their lead was a virtually unassailable 26 points, extended even further as they went off the front with the Danes to overtake the entire field inside the last 20 laps..
All they had to do was stay on their bikes, ignoring any of the chaos in their wake.
That was not enough, though, with the last word had by Kenny. Outstanding.
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