Laura Kenny wins fifth gold medal becoming most successful female Olympic cyclist

Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald took gold for Team GB as they won the first ever Olympic women’s Madison in dominant fashion.

It is Kenny’s fifth career gold medal and she becomes the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history, surpassing Dutchwoman Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel.

How the race unfolded

The British pair looked in control from the off, winning the first three sprints on the track.

The British duo then further extended their advantage after the Dutch pair of Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters, reigning world champions, were caught in a crash with a little over 70 laps remaining.

In the second half of the race, Team GB got themselves in a series of breakaways, hoovering up points in the sprints and gaining a lap with a little over 20 to go to build an all-but-insurmountable lead.

By the end of the race, they had won 10 of the 12 sprints – including the double points for the last lap – to finish with 78 points, more than twice the tally of second-placed Denmark on 35.

Kenny has now taken gold at three consecutive Olympics.

‘I have never wanted to win a race so badly’

Kenny, asked what it felt like to be become the first female British Olympian to win a gold medal at three successive Olympic Games, told the BBC: “It’s unbelievable. I am just so glad.

“I have never wanted to win a race so badly in my life. It was giving me fears like never before. But we went and did it.”

Kenny, invited to send a message to her son Albie back home in the UK, added: “I have never missed him so much in all my life. It’s so hard leaving him at home. To have Katie here – it feels like I am racing with my sister. I couldn’t have done it without her.”

A version of this article originally appeared on NationalWorld.com