Kenny was simply too good for Skinner in the first of their sprinting heats – the Scot led the sprint out but Kenny timed his kick to perfection and surged past his room-mate with plenty to spare.
That was Skinner’s first defeat of the whole competition, having qualified unbeaten for the gold medal match, but a second followed immediately – Kenny leading from the front to claim gold.
Denis Dmitriev (Russia) took bronze, also requiring just two heats to beat Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer with two convincing sprints.
As the men had in their qualification, the two British riders in the women’s sprint qualified fastest in the flying lap – James setting a new Olympic record in the process.
The Welsh rider, already a keirin silver medallist at these Games, stopped the clock in 10.721 seconds to qualify fastest, while Marchant posted the second best time of 10.787.
James was then far too fast for Azerbaijan’s Olga Ismayilova to reach the 1/8 final – beating her from the front – before Marchant joined her in the next round, coming from the back to beat Monique Sullivan (Canada).
Mark Cavendish’s first taste of the Rio 2016 track started with a solid sixth place in the omnium.
Roger Kluge (Germany) and Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) gained a lap on the field, while Cavendish sprinted to sixth behind Fernando Gaviria (Colombia) – Thomas Boudat (France) and Glenn O’Shea (Australia) having finished in front of the bunch.
