Tokyo 2020 - Mark Cavendish backs Jason Kenny to break British Olympic record: ‘I think that ninth medal’s coming’

ByTom Bennett

Published 04/08/2021 at 14:26 GMT

"Jason is a character that just gets on with the job, he always has. And where Great Britain have always been good is raising the bar, every four years just building it to peak at the right moment every four years. Jason is the epitome of that, he does that to perfection." You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.

British cycling legend Mark Cavendish has backed Jason Kenny to win a ninth Olympic medal in the men’s sprint at the Tokyo Olympics.

Kenny wasn’t at his blistering best but negotiated the opening day of sprint heats at the Izu Velodrome on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old drew level with Bradley Wiggins as the most decorated Olympian in British history on Tuesday with a silver in the team sprint.

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And Cavendish says he expects to see Kenny make history in the finals on Friday.

“Jason is a character that just gets on with the job, he always has,” Cavendish told Reshmin Chowdhury in the Eurosport Cube.

“Where Great Britain have always been good is raising the bar, every four years just building it to peak at the right moment every four years.

“Jason is the epitome of that, he does that to perfection.

He comes out, doesn’t do any media, doesn’t say how good he’s going to go, he just comes out and does the job.

“We’ve already seen it in the sprint. I think that medal’s coming, I’m pretty confident.”

Jason Kenny of Team Great Britain competes during the Men´s sprint qualifying of the track cycling on day twelve of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome on August 04, 2021 in Izu, Japan

Image credit: Getty Images

Kenny was joined in progressing to the second day of spring heats by Jack Carlin, who was also part of that silver medal team.

And Carlin says it was a relief just to have made it through the opening stages safely.

“Yeah it’s feeling good, it’s been a while since we’ve had a top-end competition so it’s good to blow the cobwebs away today,” the 24-year-old said.

“The legs weren’t feeling great after yesterday, I think Jason is feeling it a bit more in his legs today than I am, but he’s racing well.”

The British cycling squad are yet to win a gold on the track in Tokyo, with both the men's sprint team and women's pursuit team settling for silver.

But Cavendish says that the lack of golds isn't a sign of Team GB losing their touch.

"GB aren’t in decline, the rest of the world is stepping up," he said.

"Great Britain were always the pioneers in new technologies and advancements to make the sport quicker. But as you advance the amount of things you can do get smaller, you can’t get the big gains you used to.

The rest of the world are coming up. The speed that all of these nations are going at, it blows your mind.

"The women’s (team pursuit) world record now, in Athens that’s what the men were doing. That’s crazy. You’re talking 23-30% quicker times, it’s a different sport now."

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