BECKY James well and truly emptied the tank in pursuit of gold in the women’s sprint, writes Pippa Field in Rio.

And while it wasn’t quite enough on this occasion, she insists she could still hold her head up high after coming away with silver to help Great Britain surpass their track cycling medal tally from London 2012.

Having already won keirin silver, James was looking to improve upon that when she contested the women’s sprint final at the Olympic Velodrome.

She had already eased through the previous rounds, including seeing off reigning world champion Zhong Tianshi in the quarter-finals.

But in Germany’s Kristina Vogel she was coming up against an opponent who not only had two world sprint titles but was also a team sprint gold medallist in London.

It proved to be a fascinating duel with Vogel taking first blood before James looked to have got her revenge on the second race, when she threw her bike at the line.

But the clock said otherwise, deeming that Vogel had crossed first by four thousandths of a second, the victor handing her the gold.

There was a hint of disappointment etched on James’ face but given the illness and injuries she had to contend with during the last four years – the Welsh cyclist battled with a serious knee injury and also had to contend with a cancer scare – she was able to look at the bigger picture

“I was going for gold but I’m still thrilled with silver,” said James, who also set an Olympic record in Sunday’s elimination round.

“To see myself a year ago, I would never have expected this at all.

“I have been in the form of my life and I’ve come away with two silvers and an Olympic record so I can’t really ask for much more. This will be an Olympics that lives long in the memory.

“I think I’d gone really well in training so I knew what time I could do although I didn’t feel massively confident going into the sprint.

“Each race I got more and more confident and that final was the most confident I’d ever felt. I was hoping I could have taken it to three rides but I’m really happy.

“It was really fast, hard racing. I left it maybe a little bit late and she had me on the line. I thought I’d just done enough to come through, it was so close.”

James’ silver came on a successful final night of track cycling for Great Britain, with Katy Marchant winning the race for bronze to share the podium.

Meanwhile Jason Kenny matched Sir Chris Hoy as Britain’s greatest ever Olympian after winning his sixth gold in the keirin while his fiancée Laura Trott became the most successful female British Olympian with her fourth career gold, this time in the Omnium.

That meant the team surpassed their track cycling tally from London 2012, finishing on 11 medals compared to nine from four years ago.

“There is no secrets really, Great Britain train so hard and I’m sure every other country does too,” said keen baker James, who added the first thing she would do upon returning home was to bake a carrot cake.

“We just knuckle down and work hard. I couldn’t have asked for much more, we had a solid training camp and we’ve just fed on each other as the competition as gone on. We’re just buzzing really and I’m so pleased for all my teammates.

“I’m over the moon too that I get to share a podium with Katy, she is absolutely phenomenal and drives me on in training.”

l Aldi is the first Official Supermarket partner of Team GB and has been championing our nation’s extraordinary athletes on their Road to Rio and encouraging the public to tuck into fresh, affordable, Great British food. For more information visit aldi.co.uk