OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Pendleton on track for third gold

By Ben Burrows, Sportsbeat, London 2012

VICTORIA Pendleton continued the form of her life at the Olympic Games by cruising into the quarter-finals of the individual sprint at London 2012.

ON TRACK: Victoria Pendleton has gold number three in sight after cruising into individual sprint final

The 31-year-old defending champion made short work of both Willy Kanis and Ekaterina Gnidenko to keep on track for a second gold of the Games.

The nine-time world champion, who won the first-ever women’s keirin gold on Friday, had qualified fastest with a new Olympic record of 10.724 seconds and will now race for a place in the semi-finals.

Pendleton had the opportunity of three golds in London 2012 but was denied when her and partner Jess Varnish were relegated in the team sprint for an illegal changeover.

Jason Kenny continued his bid to upgrade his Beijing individual sprint silver medal in style by breezing through to Monday’s semi-finals in comfortable fashion.

The 24-year-old, who already has a London 2012 team sprint gold medal in the bag, blasted through to beat Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang 2-0 without the need for a third race.

Kenny, who claimed silver at the World Championship earlier this year, set an Olympic record of 9.713 in qualification on Saturday and will now face Njisane Nicholas Phillip for a place in the final.

The Trinidadian produced an excellent display of tactical sprinting to see off Denis Dmitriev of Russia 2-0 in his quarter-final matchup.

© Sportsbeat 2012