Kenny lights up a stuttering men's sprint competition

Jason Kenny, sprint, London 2012 Olympic Games, track day three morning session

published 4 August 2012

Jason Kenny set a new flying 200m Olympic record of 9.713 seconds to kick off the men's sprint competition that is sadly lacking in quality.

Current world champion Gregory Bauge (France) is here, as is Robert Forstemann (Germany) and Shane Perkins (Australia); but those four are the only genuine contenders for this competition.

The reason behind the lack of world class riders is a new rule brought in by the sports governing body the UCI. When they announced the new track schedule - that removed the individual pursuit, points race and madison, introduced the women's team sprint and keirin and the omnium for both men and women - they also changed the rules for the sprint competitions meaning each nation could only enter one rider.

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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.

Kenny lights up a stuttering men's sprint competition

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