Wednesday 2 March 2016 21:02, UK
Great Britain failed to reach the medal finals of the men's team sprint after qualifying only sixth fastest on the opening day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London.
Philip Hindes gave the trio a record-breaking start by completing the fastest opening lap ever ridden at sea level in 17.030 seconds, but his colossal performance had the knock-on effect of dropping both Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner.
Kenny managed to keep the trio at the top of the time sheets by the end of the second lap before peeling off, but Skinner was tired for the final lap and eventually stopped the clock 0.411 seconds behind fastest team New Zealand and 0.011 seconds adrift of the top-four place needed to contest a medal.
Kenny said: "It was a massive step forward on previous years. We had all the components here to medal, which is the first time we have been honestly able to say that for a while.
"We just watched the video and we were spread out for most of the ride, and yet we still managed to set a really fast time, and we were hundredths off being in a ride for a medal. It's disappointing.
"Phil put us ahead by a comfortable margin; it's just a shame we weren't close enough to build on that. If we were together, there is no doubt about it: we would be in the final right now. But that's easier said that done, unfortunately."
Skinner said afterwards that he is confident of reducing the gap to his team-mates in time for the Rio Olympics.
"Within another five months, I'll definitely be closer," he said. "If you look at the season as a whole, up until this competition, our results have been getting better and better at world level.
"With another five months, and with these boys to chase, hopefully we can get a better time than that."
Hindes, who was part of Britain's gold medal-winning team at London 2012, was delighted with his performance.
He said: "I'm pretty much the fastest guy in the world [at starting]. I'm happy with how I have improved."
