In a thrilling final day at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, New Zealand's rising star Ellesse Andrews took the women's sprint title, adding to her keirin gold. It was also a good Games for American Jennifer Valente, who successfully defended her omnium crown to cap a week in which Britain's waning dominance on the track was further diminished.

Britain had led the medal tally at every Olympic Games since Beijing 2008, but the gap narrowed in Tokyo three years ago. And with the retirement of the legendary Laura and Jason Kenny, the gap has narrowed even further.

Although the British topped the overall medal tally in Paris with eight medals, they won just one gold, with the Dutch winning three and New Zealand and the United States taking two each.

Lavreysen, who also defended his sprint and team sprint titles, is now his country's most successful summer Olympic athlete in history, surpassing former swimmer Inge de Bruijn and three others who have four golds. "It's unbelievable, this was my biggest dream, to go for gold three times," he said after beating Australia's Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer.

"I've been feeling really strong all week. This morning I thought: 'It's possible', but I needed to make the final perfect, and I was very close to perfection until the end," said the athlete. "I got emotional on the podium. I was tingling all over, and I had to sit down for a moment," he added.

Invented in Japan in 1948, the keirin involves riders stalking behind a motorised pacemaker before exploding into a sprint to the finish on the last three laps. Glaetzer was the first to make the move, followed by Richardson, but Lavreysen prevailed thanks to his astonishing speed on the final lap.