Melbourne World Championships - Day 5

Sunday 8th April 2012

Chris raced to a spectacular victory in the keirin tonight, winning the 11th world title of his career with a breathtaking final ride.

Chris was in fourth position going into the last bend but dived up the inside and through a tiny gap, storming to the line to take gold from Germany's Maximilian Levy.

They were joined on the podium by Chris' GB teammate Jason Kenny, who was awarded the bronze medal after New Zealand's Simon van Velthooven was relegated.

Speaking minutes after becoming keirin world champion for the fourth time, Chris said:

"I'm still not sure how I did that! I left it incredibly late and went up the inside and through a gap that I only just fitted through, but thankfully I did!

"It's fantastic that Jason got bronze too and overall it's been a great championship for the team, winning the highest number of golds in Olympic events."

Great Britain won half of the gold medals on offer in Olympic events at the World Championships in Melbourne, with a total of six gold, four silver and three bronze medals overall.

To read the full report from the final day of competition in Melbourne, click on the link below:

British Cycling

OLYMPIC GAMES MEDALS

• Gold 1km time trial, 2004, Athens
• Gold team sprint, 2008, Beijing (with Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff)
• Gold keirin, 2008, Beijing
• Gold sprint, 2008, Beijing
• Silver team sprint, 2000, Sydney (with Craig MacLean and Jason Queally)

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS

• Gold 1km time trial, 2002, Copenhagen
• Gold team sprint, 2002, Copenhagen (with Craig MacLean and Jamie Staff)
• Gold 1km time trial, 2004, Melbourne
• Gold team sprint, 2005, Los Angeles (with Jason Queally and Jamie Staff)
• Gold 1km time trial, 2006, Bordeaux
• Gold keirin, 2007, Palma
• Gold 1km time trial, 2007, Palma
• Gold sprint, 2008, Manchester
• Gold keirin, 2008, Manchester
• Gold keirin, 2010, Copenhagen
• Gold keirin, 2012, Melbourne
• Silver team sprint, 1999, Berlin (with Craig MacLean and Jason Queally)
• Silver team sprint, 2000, Manchester (with Craig MacLean and Jason Queally)
• Silver team sprint, 2006, Bordeaux (with Craig MacLean and Jamie Staff)
• Silver team sprint, 2007, Palma (with Ross Edgar and Craig MacLean)
• Silver team sprint, 2008, Manchester (with Ross Edgar and Jamie Staff)
• Silver team sprint, 2011, Apeldoorn (with Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton)
• Silver sprint, 2011, Apeldoorn
• Silver keirin, 2011, Apeldoorn
• Bronze team sprint, 2001, Antwerp (with Craig MacLean and Jason Queally)
• Bronze team sprint, 2003, Stuttgart (with Craig MacLean and Jamie Staff)
• Bronze team sprint, 2004, Melbourne (with Craig MacLean and Jamie Staff)
• Bronze 1km time trial, 2005, Los Angeles
• Bronze team sprint, 2010, Copenhagen (with Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar)
• Bronze sprint, 2012, Melbourne

COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEDALS

• Gold 1km time trial, 2002, Manchester
• Gold team sprint, 2006, Melbourne (with Ross Edgar and Craig MacLean)
• Bronze team sprint, 2002, Manchester (with Ross Edgar, Marco Librizzi and Craig MacLean)
• Bronze 1km time trial, 2006, Melbourne

WORLD RECORDS

• 500m, 24.758 seconds, Bolivia, 2007
• 750 metres team sprint, 42.950 seconds, Beijing, 2008

OLYMPIC RECORDS

• 1km time trial, 1 minute, 0.711 seconds, Athens, 2004
• 200 metres time trial, 9.815 seconds, Beijing, 2008
• 750 metres team sprint, 42.950 seconds, Beijing, 2008 (with Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff)

AWARDS

• BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year, 2003
• BBC Sports Personality of the Year, 2008
• Sports Journalists Association Sportsman of the Year, 2008
• Appointed MBE for services to cycling, 2005
• Created Knight Bachelor, 2009
• Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Edinburgh, 2005
• Honorary Doctor of Science, Heriot-Watt University, 2006
• Inducted to University of St Andrews Sports Hall of Fame, 2007
• Honorary Doctor of Science, University of St Andrews, 2009
• Inducted to University of Edinburgh Sports Hall of Fame, 2009

Sir Chris Hoy MBE, multiple world and Olympic champion track cyclist, was born and raised in Edinburgh and has been competing in various sports since the age of seven. He raced BMX until he was 14 years old, becoming Scottish Champion and ranking second in Britain and ninth in the world.

Chris also rowed and played rugby for his school, George Watson’s College, throughout his teenage years. He rowed for Scotland as a junior, winning a British Championship silver medal in the Coxless Pairs.

As a senior, Chris turned his attention to track sprint cycling and in 1992 he joined his first cycling club in Dunedin. Two years later he joined The City of Edinburgh Racing Club, the most successful track club in Britain, and since 1996, the 36-year-old has been an integral member of the Great Britain National squad. He won his first world medal in 1999 - a silver in the Team Sprint – and has won 11 world and two Commonwealth titles to date.

Chris won his first Olympic gold medal in Athens 2004 in the Kilo – an event that was dropped from the programme for Beijing 2008. Chris took this in his stride and switched his focus to three other track sprint events – the Keirin, Sprint and Team Sprint. He went on to win a gold medal in all three at the Beijing Olympics, cementing his name in the history books.

As well as his sporting achievements, Chris has a BSc Honours in Applied Sports Science from the University of Edinburgh. In 2005 he was awarded two Honorary Doctorates - one from the University of Edinburgh and another from Heriot-Watt University. He was also awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of St Andrews.

Chris’ achievements throughout his career make him Scotland’s most successful Olympian, the first Briton since 1908 to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games, and the most successful Olympic male cyclist of all time.

Following his historic hat-trick of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, Chris was voted 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He was also awarded a Knighthood in the 2009 New Year Honours list, capping an extraordinary year for the track cyclist from Edinburgh.

Copenhagen World Championships 2010

Manchester World Cup 2009

Beijing Olympics 2008

Bolivia World Record Attempt 2007

Athens Olympics 2004

Chris trains between 25-35 hours per week, depending on what stage of the season he’s at.

A typical training day would normally begin with a two hour session in the gym or an aerobic conditioning ride on the road.

Gym sessions tend to centre around the squat and dead lift as the main exercise, with reps ranging from single maximum lifts to 12 reps, depending on the stage of the season.

Afternoons are normally spent at the Velodrome with his GB team mates and their sprint squad coaches, Iain Dyer and Jan van Eijden. Sessions last three hours and focus on a specific component of performance, such as accelerations, speed work or anaerobic capacity. After the session Chris might see the team physio for a massage or some treatment.

If you’d like some training advice or you’re thinking of getting into cycling, contact British Cycling through their website: www.britishcycling.org.uk