JASON Kenny bid farewell to the Olympic men’s sprint title he has held since London 2012 as he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen at the Izu velodrome.

Kenny, who lives in Chelford, had earlier needed a repechage to get beyond the 1/8 finals after being beaten by Denis Dmitriev, but lived to fight another day as he saw off Azizulhasni Awang and Yuto Wakimoto – two riders he had already beaten in Wednesday’s round.

But it was only a temporary reprieve as the 33-year-old, now equal with Sir Bradley Wiggins as Britain's most decorated Olympian after Tuesday’s team sprint silver, was beaten in the first two races of the best-of-three quarter-final round.

Yesterday the six-time Olympic champion had admitted he was struggling to recover from the exertions of the team sprint competition, and sounded like a man who knew he was about to hand over his crown.

Instead he called team-mate Jack Carlin Britain’s best chance of getting a medal in the event, and the Scot duly advanced to the semis as he beat Germany’s Maximilian Levy 2-0.