Sir Chris Hoy was crowned world champion for a 10th time on this day in 2010 after winning the keirin at the Track World Cycling Championships in Copenhagen.
Hoy, then 34, recovered from a crash in his heat to power to the final and then edged out Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang on the finish line to claim his second medal of the championships.
The Scot, who had already won bronze in the team sprint at the Ballerup Super Arena, was competing at his first major global event since winning three gold medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
His keirin triumph in Copenhagen marked a successful comeback from a serious hip injury sustained in a crash the previous year.
It was also his third keirin world title in four years and came eight years after claiming his first rainbow jersey at the same Danish venue.
“It’s fantastic,” Hoy said after his victory in Denmark. “I think it makes it more special to be back here again where I won my first world title eight years ago.
“I would never have predicted then that I’d be back here in eight years’ time, let alone to win a 10th title, so I’m delighted.”
His challenge had got off to a rocky start when, after one false start in his heat, he was blocked by Malaysia’s Josiah Ng Onn Lam before falling and taking out another rider. The race was stopped and he had to have the cleat on one of his shoes repaired.
“I certainly didn’t enjoy being dumped on my backside in the first round, that was out of order,” he said. “I was annoyed but thankfully I wasn’t hurt and got back on the bike.”
Hoy took his haul of world titles to 11 with another keirin victory in Melbourne in 2012, the same year he also became Britain’s most successful Olympian in terms of gold medals won at the time.
He won the team sprint and keirin at London 2012 to take his overall Olympic gold medal haul to six, surpassing the five won by rower Sir Steve Redgrave.
Jason Kenny has since eclipsed Hoy’s Olympic gold medal record, winning his seventh when defending his keirin title at Tokyo 2020.
