Hoy 150/1 to defend three Olympic titles

Image 1 of 3

Sir Chris Hoy has been building towards a successful defence of three of the four Olympic gold medal he won at Beijing in 2008, but today's defeat in the semi-final of the men's individual sprint at the 2012 Track World Championships by British colleague Jason Kenny looks likely to have ended those ambitions.

Hoy was knighted, voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and became a household name in Britain after his extraordinary feats in Beijing but Kenny is emerging out of his shadow. His defeat of Hoy today makes him the firm favourite to claim Team GB's only individual sprint berth for the London 2012 Olympics, at the significant expense of his vanquished rival. If, as expected, Kenny gets the nod by the selectors, the most number of golds that Hoy can win would be two. As a result British bookmakers are offering huge odds of 150/1 for Hoy to claim three golds in the summer.

“There is no doubting that Jason Kenny is now in pole position to lead GB in the individual sprint and with the team announced in June, Hoy has a lot to do in a very short space of time to get himself back to the front of the queue,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.