Beijing: Flying Scotsman Chris Hoy equalled a 100-year-old British Olympic record on his way to winning his third gold medal of the Beijing Games on Tuesday.
Hoy, who had already won gold in the team sprint and keirin, claimed his first ever Olympic sprint crown after a dominant display over teammate Jason Kenny.
Kenny, a 20-year-old from Bolton, England, who is competing in his first Olympics, picked up the silver and will go home with two medals having won gold in the team sprint with Hoy and third team member Jamie Staff of England.
The bronze medal went to Mickael Bourgain of France after he dominated Germany's Maximilian Levy in a third leg decider.
The 32-year-old Hoy, who was born in Edinburgh, now has a total of five Olympic medals, four of them gold.
In Athens he won the kilometer time trial crown on its last Olympic appearance and in Sydney four years earlier he claimed silver in the team sprint behind France.
The last time a British athlete won three Olympic golds in a single edition of the Games was in 1908 when swimmer Henry Cotton took triple gold.
After his displays in the keirin and team sprint, in which he was unbeaten, Hoy went into the final against his younger teammate as the big favourite.
However Kenny has been one of the revelations of the track here, and gave Hoy a run for his money in their first match where Hoy had to make an effort to come back and take the win at the finish.
With victory in sight, Hoy kept Kenny on a tighter rein in the second match, and although it was neck and neck coming round the final bend Hoy was celebrating before he came over the finish line.
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