Bronze is Clancy’s reward after he digs deep

The Barnsley-born 27-year-old added a surprise bronze medal in the individual omnium to the team pursuit title he won in world record time on Friday.

Last night’s bronze took his tally of Olympic medals to three, following the gold he won with the pursuit team back in Beijing.

It is a remarkable achievement, even for a man honed in the mightily successful Great British cycling programme.

What made his record over the last two days even more commendable was that it was accomplished less than 48 hours after he and Geraint Thomas, Pete Kennaugh and Steve Burke won the team pursuit in such convincing fashion.

In total, Clancy – who grew up in Huddersfield – raced nine times in four days at the velodrome.

He won five of those races, two of those coming in the first and last races of the omnium.

It was all done with a little help from his friends as even though he was on his own in the individual multi-discipline event, he revealed that a phone call from world champion Mark Cavendish gave him the confidence to go for broke.

“I came here for team pursuit gold,” said Yorkshire’s great 
Olympian.

“In the omnium I knew it was touch and go whether I got a medal.

“I want to say thanks to the team; at one point I even had the great Mark Cavendish on the phone offering me some advice.”

Considering he had only just won the team pursuit the evening before, Clancy began the omnium well on Saturday with victory in the 250m flying start event, where he clocked 12.566sec to win by more than half a second.

He finished 11th in the points race, and then was fifth in the elimination race to leave himself fifth overnight.

Yesterday morning he finished second to eventual gold medal winner Norman Lasse Hansen of Denmark by less than 0.2sec in the 4,000m individual pursuit.

He was in a strong position to keep challenging for the gold, but as he said on Friday night, the bunch races might be his undoing.

And in the penultimate 60-lap scratch, he finished a disappointing 10th in the event, a lap down on the leaders after missing a break.

But he salvaged his hopes and clinched the bronze with a strong victory in the one-kilometre time trial yesterday afternoon, clocking 1:00.981 to go within 0.25sec of Sir Chris Hoy’s Olympic record.

Clancy said: “In the points race those guys just tore me apart, but that elimination saved my race. In the scratch, I was in it to win it but I didn’t have the legs.

“I had the form of my life in the one-kilometre time trial, the flying lap and the individual pursuit.

“I beat them by a mile in all of them. At one point I was looking at getting the gold but, in the scratch, it just slipped away.”

The hosts will seeking further success today with Kenny.

The 24-year-old from Bolton is set to meet Trinidad’s Njisane Nicholas Phillip in the best-of-three sprint semi-final with three-time world sprint champion Gregory Bauge of France facing off against Shane Perkins of Australia in the second semi-final.

The one rider per nation rule introduced by the International Cycling Union and International Olympic Committee weakened the field and saw Kenny selected ahead of 2008 winner Sir Chris Hoy.

But a much-anticipated final between Kenny, silver medallist in Beijing and runner-up to Bauge in Melbourne in April, and the Frenchman is in prospect.

Kenny opted not to talk, but Bauge said: “I am feeling good, I am ready for the semi-finals.

“I am a bit behind compared to the British athlete (Kenny) as he has the public behind him, but we will see (today).

“I am satisfied. I did not lose too much energy. (Today) is the last day of sprint and I will give it I all have.

“In the sprint, what counts is not the time, but to beat opponent.”

Defending champion and six-time world sprint champion Pendleton made straightforward progress in the corresponding women’s event, advancing untroubled to today’s best-of-three quarter-finals, with tomorrow’s semi-finals and final in her sights.

Pendleton, poised to meet Olga Panarina of Belarus in the last eight, is seeking a third Olympic gold to become Britain’s most successful female Olympian.

Friday’s victory in the keirin saw Pendleton move level with athlete Kelly Holmes, swimmer Rebecca Adlington and sailors Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb on two Olympic gold medals.

Laura Trott, team pursuit champion, will begin her two-day omnium campaign today.