JASON Kenny began his hunt for a fifth Olympic gold medal with a world record time in qualifying for the men's individual sprint.

British team-mate Callum Skinner, who anchored their gold medal-winning ride in the team sprint, set a new world-best mark with a time of 9.703secs.

Kenny watched rider after rider attempt to better it, but none succeeded until he took to the track at the Olympic velodrome.

There was a collective gasp in the Rio crowd as he stormed past the line in 9.551 to earn his place as the competition's top seed.

The 28-year-old Boltonian carried that form into the second round, when he timed it perfectly to fire his way past German Max Levy.

And Skinner followed him, beating Australian Pat Constable.

The next round is tomorrow (Saturday) at 2.23pm, British time, with the quarter-finals at 8pm and the semi-finals at 9.41pm.

Kenny will be going all out to make it into Sunday's final, at 9.04pm, and defend the Olympic title he won at London 2012.