Jason Kenny Wins 7th Olympic Gold to Become Britain's Greatest Olympian

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Men's Keirin - Gold Final - Izu Velodrome, Shizuoka, Japan - August 8, 2021. Jason Kenny of Britain celebrates with a British flag after taking gold in the race. REUTERS/Matthew Childs
Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Men's Keirin - Gold Final - Izu Velodrome, Shizuoka, Japan - August 8, 2021. Jason Kenny of Britain celebrates with a British flag after taking gold in the race. REUTERS/Matthew Childs
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Jason Kenny Wins 7th Olympic Gold to Become Britain's Greatest Olympian

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Men's Keirin - Gold Final - Izu Velodrome, Shizuoka, Japan - August 8, 2021. Jason Kenny of Britain celebrates with a British flag after taking gold in the race. REUTERS/Matthew Childs
Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Men's Keirin - Gold Final - Izu Velodrome, Shizuoka, Japan - August 8, 2021. Jason Kenny of Britain celebrates with a British flag after taking gold in the race. REUTERS/Matthew Childs

Jason Kenny said he might think twice about retiring from the cycling track after winning his seventh Olympic gold on Sunday to become Britain's most successful Olympian of all time.

The 33-year-old produced a dazzling performance in the men's keirin final to win his ninth medal overall and overtake Chris Hoy, who won six golds.

Elsewhere on the final day of action at the Izu Velodrome, Canada's Kelsey Mitchell won the women's sprint and America's Jennifer Valente took gold in the women's omnium.

But Kenny stole the show and has now also surpassed retired cyclist Bradley Wiggins as the most-decorated British Olympian ever, with seven golds and two silvers across four Games.

The defending champion finished ahead of Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang and Dutch world champion Harrie Lavreysen -- who won gold medals in the sprint and team sprint at the Tokyo Games -- after pulling off a stunning ambush in the final.

The keirin involves riders lurking behind a pace-maker until the last three laps and Kenny caught his opponents napping by immediately launching into an incredible sprint.

The veteran rider, who briefly retired after Rio 2016, is yet to confirm if he will continue beyond the Tokyo but admits his latest triumph has given him pause for thought.

Asked if this was his final race, Kenny said: "If you'd asked me this morning I would have said 'yeh, probably', but now I feel pretty good so I might carry on."

Kenny had looked like a fading force for most of the week in the Izu Velodrome, where he took a silver medal in the team sprint before being outclassed in the individual sprint by Lavreysen.

- Niggles -
"This morning in my head I was 33 and getting slower," he said. "From a British cycling point of view you'd rather back someone who is 20 and getting faster. It was difficult.

"I haven't been able to train the way I want to, I've had niggles. It might not be up to me (whether he stays in the team). I was disappointed with my pace here so it might be out of my hands."

On his victory lap, Kenny tossed away his helmet before throwing his arms into the air. On the podium, Awang and Lavreysen hoisted Kenny onto their shoulders.

Kenny's wife, Laura, was unable to add to her own medal haul, finishing sixth in the women's omnium, an event in which she won gold in 2012 and 2016.

Laura Kenny won gold in the madison and silver in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Games, taking the Kenny couple's total Olympic medal haul to 15, including 12 golds.

US cyclist Valente won the race, finishing 14 points ahead of Yumi Kajihara, who took silver to win Japan's first medal on the track. Dutch rider Kirsten Wild took bronze.

Canada's Kelsey Mitchell won gold in the women's sprint, just four years after taking up the sport.

Mitchell won the first two races in a best-of-three final against Olena Starikova of Ukraine. Hong Kong's Lee Wai-sze took bronze.



Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

There are few benefits to losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam but when Iga Swiatek had her fingers prised off the French Open trophy, it had one unexpected benefit -- it lifted the pressure off her shoulders heading into Wimbledon.

Swiatek crushed Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday after years of trying and failing to make a major impact at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She has made no secret of her preference for clay courts and her four French Open titles were clear evidence that Paris's red dirt was more to her liking than Wimbledon's lawns, Reuters reported.

Yet her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals in early June ended her chances of a fourth straight title in Paris and ensured few were tipping her for a career-best run at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm not going to have seasons where the pressure is not going to be kind of forced on me from the expectations from the outside anymore," she said after setting up a Saturday showdown against American Amanda Anisimova.

"Every year I guess it's kind of the same but I feel sometimes I can handle it better or ignore it. Sometimes a bit worse.

"I don't know. Like, honestly, I think it's easier if you haven't won Roland Garros and also if you had more time to practice.

"If I win Roland Garros and then I come here and everybody ask me already about... They put, like, super high expectations."

Five-times Grand Slam winner Swiatek was in a league of her own on a scorching Centre Court on Thursday, blitzing past Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic in the blink of an eye.

She has dropped only one set in her run to the final and suddenly looks at home on grass, a surface she has previously struggled to master.

"Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement," she said, summing up what had changed for her on the surface. "I’m serving really well and I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it and it’s working so I will keep doing that."