Jason Kenny has become Britain’s most decorated Olympian after winning gold in the men’s keirin at Tokyo 2020 on Sunday.

Kenny, who conceded he was “struggling” during the men’s sprint earlier this week, took his gold medal tally to seven, one more than his fellow keirin specialist Chris Hoy. Kenny now has a total of nine medals, taking him past Sir Bradley Wiggins on eight.

Kenny had qualified for the keirin final after taking the back wheel of British team-mate Jack Carlin in the semi-final, the draw giving the compatriots a rare opportunity to collaborate in the early stages of the race.

Expectations that the final would be a conventional sprint for the finish evaporated when Kenny dropped the chasing group with an explosive turn of speed with half the six-lap race still to go.

The gap was almost as wide when Kenny crossed the finish line 0.763 seconds from Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia. Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands took the bronze.

The victorious rider removed his helmet, threw it to a Team GB official and soaked up the applause from spectators at Izu velodrome who had earlier seen their two medal hopefuls, Yudai Nitta and Yuta Wakimoto, fail to reach the final of the Japanese track event.

Kenny is now the first Briton to win nine Olympic medals, adding keirin gold to the team sprint silver he won on Tuesday alongside Carlin and Ryan Owens.

In the keirin final, Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer let go of Kenny’s wheel before the derny, which sets the pace over the first three laps, had even peeled off the track. The British defending keirin champion from Rio 2016 snatched a glance behind, spied an opportunity and sped away, leaving the five shellshocked men behind to battle it out for silver and bronze.