In the women’s team pursuit, world champions USA proved they would be no pushovers, beating Great Britain’s world record from Friday night on their way to beating Australia in a time of 4.12.282.

But the Brits took the upper hand going into the final by reclaiming the record in the very next heat.

Riding against Canada for a place in the final, Canada lost their first rider early on – as they had done in qualifying – as Britain surged ahead.

With coach Paul Manning calling for more, however, it was clear they wanted their world record back and Rowsell Shand only dropped off with two laps remaining, leaving Trott, Barker and Archibald to stop the clock in 4.12.152.

In the final, the Americans started quickest but the British quartet were in front by the halfway point and ahead of world record pace.

As America went down to three riders, the Brits pressed home their advantage and stretched their lead to more than a second.

Rowsell dropped off, after digging deep following an earlier shallow change, and there was a small gap to Barker off the back on the final lap, but victory was assured.

The only question that remained was whether the world record would fall again, and by how much, and the answer was a very comprehensive yes – their time of 4.10.236 matching the 4.10 target set by Manning when the discipline was first expanded to four riders.

Fellow Olympic debutant Skinner is also guaranteed at least a silver medal after coming through the men’s sprint with an unblemished record.

The Scot came from behind to win his 1/8 final match sprint against Patrick Constable, and then defeated China’s Xu Chao in two straight races to reach the semi-finals.

He faced Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer there, but got his tactics spot on – especially in the second race, when he dropped up and down the banking to book his place in the gold medal final.

Kenny, meanwhile, beat Colombia’s Fabian Zapata to reach the quarter-finals, where Constable was again his opponent – the Australian having come through the repechage.

But Kenny won in two straight races to set up a showdown with Russia’s Denis Dmitriev in the semi-finals.

His unblemished record was ended in the first race, when Dmitriev came from behind to win, but Kenny got his tactics right in coming from behind with plenty of height to force a decider.

And Kenny led the final sprint out from the front to book his own place in the final, finding an extra burst of speed around the final bend to win comfortably.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games: women’s team pursuit – result

1) Great Britain – 4.10.236 (world record)
2) USA
3) Canada
4) Australia

Rio 2016 Olympic Games: women’s keirin – result

1) Ellis Ligtlee (Netherlands)
2) Becky James (Great Britain)
3) Anna Meares (Australia)
4) Anastasiia Voinova (Russia)
5) Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
6) Kristina Vogel (Germany)