London - AFP
Five-time Olympic champion Chris Hoy kept his bid for a history-making keirin gold on track at the Olympic velodrome as he surged into the second round of the competition. If successful later on Tuesday, Hoy could overtake Steve Redgrave\'s haul of five gold medals to become the first Briton to own six Olympic golds. Hoy equalled Redgrave\'s gold tally last week when he anchored Britain\'s sprint team to victory on the opening night of track cycling. Afterwards, the 36-year-old Scot played down the extent of his achievement. \"It\'s amazing, but it\'s just a number really. I still don\'t think that anybody can better Steve\'s record in terms of what he\'s really achieved,\" Hoy said of the British rowing great. \"It\'s not just the number, it\'s the way he did it and the fact it\'s five consecutive Games.\" Hoy might have to change his tune, however. He stood out from the rest of the field in his keirin heat, where he attacked early with only New Zealand\'s Simon Van Velthooven able to follow his stunning turn of pace. Joining the pair directly into the second round was Germany\'s Maximilian Levy, Dutchman Teun Mulder, France\'s Mickael Bourgain and Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia. There was a scare for Australian medal contender Shane Perkins, who finally ended up securing his second round spot thanks to third place from a photo finish decision in his repeachages heat. He was joined from repechages by Greek Christos Volikakis, Juan Peralta of Spain, Trinidad\'s Njisane Phillip, Japan\'s Kazunari Watanabe and Hersony Canelon of Venezuela. The track cycling was to resume at 1500 GMT with the finals of the women\'s sprint and omnium and the men\'s keirin bringing the competition to a close. American Sarah Hammer, a gold winner in the road race time trial and silver medal winner on the track in the team pursuit, led Britain\'s Laura Trott in the omnium standings with two of the six races remaining.