Jason Kenny threw down the gauntlet to British cycling bosses last night after a sensational performance at the UCI Track World Championships in Manchester.
Disappointed by his omission from the team sprint, the 20-year-old Farnworth prospect achieved a stunning fifth place in the individual event.
His list of scalps included silver-medal-winning Brit Ross Edgar, picked ahead Kenny for the team final on Wednesday night.
advertisement
"I have never sat on the sidelines watching people race before," admitted Kenny.
"I didn't like doing that too much. So, it was nice to put a marker down to say I'm this good' rather than just telling people."
In his first senior world championships Kenny exceeded expectations after a day of racing he described "as my toughest ever", destroying many of the world's most renowned sprinters. And for good measure he set a new personal best for the flying' 200 metres of 10.067 seconds in qualification.
Among the experienced riders below him was double Olympic champion Ryan Bayley. Kenny then pedalled his way past Japan's Kiyofumi Nagai to make the final 12.
Faced by French former World Cup winner, Francois Pervais, the triple world junior gold medallist held his nerve to reach the quarter-finals.
To secure a medal ride Kenny needed to beat world champion and Athens Olympic bronze medallist Mickael Bourgain.
"I had a chance," he said. "I had a lot of gas in the second race. But I made a few little mistakes that Bourgain pounced on. He is one of the best and you cannot afford to make mistakes when it's that tight.
"I'll build up to the Olympic Trials later in the year."
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
