Tokyo 2020: Jason Kenny wins record-equalling eighth Olympic medal

Jason Kenny has drawn level with Sir Bradley Wiggins as Great Britain’s most decorated Olympian after winning an eighth medal.

The record-equalling achievement comes after the cyclist picked up a silver in the men’s team sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

He has two more chances at these Games to win another medal and hold the record for most medals outright.

He is also tied with Sir Chris Hoy in the record for most golds (with six each), but he could break that record too at Tokyo.

Team GB, made up of Kenny, Ryan Owens and Jack Carlin, were in pursuit of a fourth successive title in the event. However, they were the underdogs against a dominant Netherlands team, who surged to victory and set a new Olympic record of 41.369 seconds in the process.

The British cyclists finished with a time of 44.589.

After the event, Kenny said: “It was really good, I think we poured our hearts into the second ride to get into the final, we knew we had some ground to make up. I had nothing in the final, I was rubbish, but we tried so hard to get there.

“It’s really special, every time you come back, it gets harder; you do your first Olympics and you get some momentum, but to repeat it and do it over and over again…

“We’ll give it everything, we focus on the team spirit, that was always our best chance to get on the podium, we’ll give it everything.”

There was a mixed reaction in the team – although Kenny called their silver medal “rubbish” after failing to get anywhere near the team’s earlier qualifying times, Owens said that it was a “dream come true”.

Earlier on, Kenny’s wife Laura won her fifth Olympic medal in the women’s team pursuit. The British team performed well, but had to settle for silver in the face of a world record-breaking performance by the German cyclists.