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Sir Chris Hoy completed his golden hat-trick with a dominant performance in the keirin final at the National Cycling Championships at Manchester Velodrome.

The Olympic champion finished in 10.457 seconds, just ahead of Sky teammate Jason Kenny in silver and Sports City Velo's Chris Lyte in bronze.

World bronze medallist Matthew Crampton raised a few eyebrows by qualifying quicker than Hoy in the heats but the Science in Sport rider was unable to reproduce that speed in the final and finished an agonising fourth.

Instead it was Hoy who took the plaudits again as he added to his sprint and team sprint titles from earlier in the week, but the 33-year old insisted it had been the most difficult of the three golds.

"I'd rank that up there as one of my hardest ever keirins," said Hoy. "It just goes to show the strength in depth we've got at the moment in Britain.

"I had to give it everything I had and I was really hanging on by the skin of my teeth at the end - all hell was breaking loose behind me and I just had to keep my head down and go for the line.

"I knew I had good performances in me for this week but what I didn't know was whether I had the recovery, to keep doing it day after day.

"But I'm really pleased with how everything's gone. There's been a lot of racing and it's been a hard three days but I've got five days off now to recover before the World Cup and hopefully I can come in with even better performances there."

Meanwhile, Victoria Pendleton successfully claimed her fifth consecutive national keirin title in the women's event.

The 29-year old was pushed all the way and only just crossed the line in first with 17-year old world junior champion Rebecca James hot on her tail in silver and team sprint gold medallist Helen Scott bronze.

Pendleton was also earning her third title of the week having already taken the time trial and sprint titles and insisted it had been perfect preparation for next week's UCI World Cup Classic event, also at Manchester Velodrome.

"My form's been really good this week, better than I expected going into the Championships, so I'm really looking forward to the World Cup now," said Pendleton.

"I was a bit anxious about the World Cup but I've gone a good 0.2 seconds faster on my time trials than I expected to, which in racing terms is miles.

"I knew Rebecca and Helen would be watching out for me in this one - I'd be naïve to think they wouldn't be. They've done fantastic and really put the pressure on me so it's a good job on their behalf, I'd have done the same in their situation.

"That's the kind of competition that you like to have pushing you on so it was a good race on everyone's behalf really."

More than the Games / Eurosport