MARK Cavendish claimed the Olympic medal which long proved so elusive with silver in the men’s omnium – but it was not without drama.

After eight years of trying and at the third time of asking, Cavendish, who has property in Ongar, finished second behind Italy’s Elia Viviani, while defending champion Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark took bronze.

Cavendish accidentally caused a collision in the last of the six omnium events, the points race, which claimed Viviani among its victims, but the Italian was able to remount and take the title.

Viviani finished on top of the podium with 207 points, 13 ahead of Cavendish, while Hansen was just behind in third with 192. World champion Fernando Gaviria of Colombia was fourth on 181 points.

Cavendish said: “I felt incredible. I could see people supporting me and I felt better and better but I knew at halfway I wouldn’t be able to get a lap.

“I’ve had such great support. We’ve rushed the medals here as Great Britain. We have got the best bikers in the world but what’s been forgotten about in the past few days is we have the best staff behind us.

“It’s a massive team and one that really wants to win and it’s quite emotional, especially for me.

“I needed those people in what was my third ever international omnium.”

Earlier in the week, CJ Ujah raced against Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m semi-finals and finished fourth with a time of 10.01 seconds.

The former Waltham Forest’s Sir George Monoux sixth form college student was the fastest Team GB sprinter in qualifying, narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

Bolt went on to win the gold in a time of 9.80 seconds and Ujah will be competing in Team GB’s 4x100m relay later today.

Sir George’s head of sport James Massara said: “We are incredibly proud and inspired by CJ’s achievements.

“Aged just 22, CJ has the world at his feet. We can expect plenty more of Olympics action from this extraordinary, talented young man. He is a huge inspiration to our students.”

Previously at the Games, Joe Clarke had produced the run of his life to win the canoe slalom single kayak title in a gold medal-winning time of 1.28.53.

The 23-year-old, who was born in Stone in Staffordshire and was competing at his first Games, knew he was in with a chance of a medal after qualifying in third place from the semi-finals in 1.30.67.

And the Waltham Abbey resident, who won World Cup bronze in 2014 and 2015 and trains at Lee Valley White Water Centre, underlined the quality of that run by producing a penalty-free performance in the final to move into the lead with two competitors remaining.

Clarke then had to watch on as the Czech Republic’s Jiri Prskavec and the fastest qualifier from the semi-final, Slovakia’s Jakub Grigar, could not match his time before he was able to celebrate a life-changing result.

The kayaker became Britain’s second Olympic champion and ninth medallist overall at that stage of the Games.