Harrie Lavreysen added keirin gold to sprint and team sprint glory at the Paris Olympics on Sunday to underline the current Dutch domination of track cycling.
He followed in the slipsteam of British greats Chris Hoy (2008) and Jason Kenny (2016) in achieving the feat at one Olympics, also becoming the most successful Dutch Olympian ever at a summer Games.
The 27-year-old bettered his tally from Tokyo where he won gold in the sprints but only bronze in the keirin.
"It’s incredible, this was my biggest dream to go for gold three times," Lavreysen said.
"I felt really strong the full week. This morning, I thought, ‘It is possible' - but I needed to ride the perfect final, and I was really close to perfect until the end. It was close racing, it was really good. For the Olympics, it was the best race ever."
The 13-times world champion waited until the bell to launch his attack in the keirin, edging out Australian's Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer in a race which included a multi-bike collision.
Richardson said: "I pushed Harrie all the way to the line. We did the fastest keirin we've ever done in that final with a 9.3. That would have out-qualified 90% of the field on sprint day, so it just showed where the level was at and how hard we pushed each other.
He thought he could beat the Dutchman until the crucial moment came.
He added: "There was a moment down the back straight where I thought, oh this is actually looking pretty good, and then he just rode a really good line to keep me wide coming into turn three and ducked down at the last minute. That scrubbed a little bit of my speed and silver was all that was for me."
Big crashes in keirin
The three medallists ended up being the only official finishers. Malaysia's Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom crossed the line fourth but was later relegated for causing the crash which ended the race for Briton Jack Carlin and Shinji Nakano.
The Japanese rider left the track looking battered and bruised with a ripped shirt. He also held his arm in an unnatural position.
There was also a big crash in the keirin semi-final.
German youngster Luca Spiegel fell after being touched by Britain's Hamish Turnbull. He slid along the track and was able to get up again after treatment.
With his jersey also in tatters, Spiegel waved to the crowd at the French National Velodrome in the Paris suburb of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Lavreysen's heroics meant the Dutch topped the track cycling medals table.
Andrews wins women's sprint
New Zealand were second in the medals table after Ellesse Andrews beat Germany's Lea Sophia Friedrich to gold in the women's sprint, adding to the gold she won in the keirin and silver from the team sprint. The New Zealanders also grabbed silver in the team pursuit.
Andrews won both races in the sprint final to deny Friedrich.
"I feel like I'm living in a dream," she said. "It's been a massive week, and I'm just so proud of how I've managed to carry myself to the end of the competition."
The silver medallist took the first German individual medal in track cycling since Kristina Vogel in 2016. She also sealed bronze in the Paris team sprint.
Bronze went to Briton Emma Finucane after she defeated Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw.
The world champion is the first British woman in 60 years to pick up three medals at one Olympics. She also scooped team sprint gold and keirin bronze.
Valente seizes women's omnium gold
Jennifer Valente won gold in the women's omnium, the final track race in Paris, matching her feat at the last Tokyo Games and winning her second title of the French Games.
The 29-year-old, who also helped win the team pursuit, picked up 144 omnium points to prevail ahead of Poland's Daria Pikulik and New Zealander Ally Wollaston.
Valente said: "It’s been a really long week of racing. I raced (team pursuit) qualifying over a week ago, and we had some really good performances, so to pull it off on the last day, I'm really excited."
Valente narrowly missed a medal in the madison event in the French capital, finishing fourth.
The 80 laps of the track, corresponding to 20 kilometres, included eight sprints for points.
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