Great Britain's Jason Kenny won a stunning Olympic gold in the men's sprint, fully justifying his selection ahead of 2008 champion Sir Chris Hoy with his third Games gold.
Kenny's previous two Olympic gold medals came in the team sprint alongside Hoy, but now the 24-year-old from Bolton is now an Olympic individual champion after a sensational 2-0 final victory over three-time world champion Gregory Bauge of France.
The Briton qualified fastest in the three-day competition on Saturday and outpaced Bauge in the first of their best-of-three contest.
Kenny then led out the Frenchman in the second race and just had too much speed for his opponent to send the velodrome into raptures.
It was Britain's fifth gold from seven medal events on the track, with the potential for further success on Tuesday's final day of racing.
The one rider per nation rule introduced by the International Cycling Union and International Olympic Committee weakened the field and saw Kenny selected ahead of Hoy.
Kenny told the BBC he was relieved to have justified his selection.
He said: "It's amazing, I hadn't even thought about it until we got into that last ride and then it suddenly dawned on me, the battle I had just to get here with Chris, knowing that you've got someone on the sideline that definitely wouldn't give that second sprint away so I was thinking 'I'd better not mess this one up'.
"I was really pleased just to deliver for the team.''
But a Kenny versus Bauge final was befitting of the blue riband event.
Kenny finished second to Hoy in Beijing and to Bauge at April's Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, while the Briton was awarded the 2011 world title after Bauge was stripped of the rainbow jersey for an anti-doping infringement.
Both men made serene progress to the final, with Kenny beating Trinidad's Njisane Nicholas Phillip 2-0 in his best-of-three semi-final and Bauge seeing off Australia's Shane Perkins in the other last-four tie.
Bauge was drawn on the inside for the first final contest, which meant he had to go in front of Kenny, turning to watch his opponent.
Kenny weaved up and down the banking to tease Bauge and then used the slope to his advantage to speed past his rival and win by a wheel's length and go 1-0 up.
The draw then put Kenny in front for race two, but the Briton was unflustered and had too much speed for his opponent as he powered to a supreme victory.
The bronze went to Perkins, who claimed a 2-0 victory over Phillip.
