Kenny's silver lining

7:59pm Tuesday 19th August 2008

FARNWORTH golden boy Jason Kenny could not prevent Chris Hoy making Olympic history.

But the young pretender is tipped to succeed Britain's track cycling king.

Kenny added an individual sprint silver to his team sprint gold as hot Scot Hoy secured a third Olympic title.

“Jason is going to be the best in the world in a very short space of time," said the 32-year-old triple crown winner.

“This is the man who is going to win in London.

“To beat him was probably the hardest race of my life."

Kenny, 12 years his training partner's junior, certainly was not overawed by Hoy's reputation.

And while their best of three final did not require a deciding race, Kenny pushed Hoy to the limit.

“I gave it my best shot, especially in the second race," said Kenny who earlier brushed aside German Maximillian Levy to guarantee himself another medal.

"In the first race it was a bit scrappy and I was in two minds how I wanted to ride it," he added.

"The second was how I imagined it.

"But Chris just had the legs at the end of the day. There was nothing more I can do because I gave it everything."

Kenny, the youngest member of Britain's 14-strong track squad, arrived in Beijing as an unknown to everyone apart from the British squad.

However, in the last 11 days he has come of age as a world class rider.

"I knew it was possible, particularly in the team sprint because we have such a strong squad," added the Bolton star.

"As far as the individual sprint goes I just stepped it up.

"And it only helps training with Chris. I couldn't train with anyone better.

"Every time you do a session you look at your time and think you're doing well.

"Then you see Chris go a tenth of a second quicker.

"I am always chasing him. Chris is probably the closest person there is to being unbeatable that there is.

"No-one is unbeatable, but every time you do a pb in training, he gets up and beats you.

“He probably has the best legs in the world for this event. He drags everyone up with him, so it’s really good for the team.

"Chris is strong, but I know he has the odd little weaknesses. I was hoping that I could do the best ride I could and hope it was enough to win.

"But then I turn up at the Olympics and qualify second fastest and I think 'I'm actually pretty good’.

"However, hopefully this is just a stepping stone for me.

"If I want to be as good as Chris there is still a lot of hard work to be done.

"I won't rest on my laurels. I'm quite tired after all these races but it's been a brilliant experience."