Golden Britons sparkle in Beijing

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Video - Wiggins wins individual pursuit gold

British Olympians have claimed four gold medals, a silver and four bronze medals on "Super Saturday" in Beijing.

Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy stormed to track cycling victories, with Ross Edgar earning silver, and bronze medals going to Steven Burke and Chris Newton.

Rebecca Adlington began the day with a stunning swim to win the women's 800m freestyle in world record time.

The men's rowing coxless four surged to gold, while Britain also claimed bronze in the men's and women's double sculls.

Team GB now occupy sixth place in the medal table with seven gold medals, three silver and seven bronze.

Saturday's haul of nine medals equalled their best day in the last 100 years, although they won two silvers and three bronze on 21 August 2004.

Of Britain's gold medal opportunities on Saturday, only heptathlete Kelly Sotherton failed to reach the podium, finishing fifth despite an impressive javelin performance and strong 800m run.

British sailors will have to wait for the medals they had expected on Saturday, with two GB boats seeing their races postponed until Sunday.

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Video - Britain strike gold in coxless four

Ben Ainslie, in the Finn class, and the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson were all frustrated as a lack of wind affected the medal races in Qingdao.

All four are guaranteed silver medals when they do complete their races, and both boats occupy the lead in their events.

Adlington kicked off "Super Saturday", so named for the 30 gold medals and numerous British opportunities on offer, in a world record 800m freestyle time of eight minutes 14.10 seconds.

That performance handed the 19-year-old her second gold medal of the Games, following her 400m freestyle success on Monday.

"I absolutely can't believe that has happened. I knew when I touched I had won and that was a great thing because I was just going for gold," she said.

"This is just everything I have ever dreamed of and I'm so glad the hard work has paid off."

Success inside Beijing's Water Cube gave way to more medals at the Shunyi rowing lake, as the men's four battled back to pip Australia to gold.

"I don't know where that last 250m came from. I was in so much pain - I've never been in that pain in my entire life," said victorious GB crew member Andy Hodge.

The win handed Steve Williams, the only remaining member of the Athens coxless four, his second Olympic gold medal.

Hodge, Peter Reed and Tom James are at their first Games.

Women's double Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington and men's duo Matthew Wells and Steve Rowbotham both took bronze.

Britain's track cyclists picked up where the rowers left off, Newton adding Britain's fifth medal of the day in the points race at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Steven Burke won in the individual pursuit bronze race, dismantling Russia's Alexei Markov with his second expertly weighted ride of the day.

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Video - Hoy leads GB one-two in keirin

Wiggins, following on in the individual pursuit's main event, had to fight for his title as New Zealand's Hayden Roulston proved a tough challenger.

But Wiggins ultimately earned his fifth career Olympic medal by some distance, accelerating gradually as the contest went on.

"It's been a long build-up - it always is for the Olympic Games, but then it comes round so quickly," Wiggins told BBC Sport.

"I'm just pleased it's over. This is just the first one of three."

Hoy, widely expected to blow apart the field in the keirin final, lived up to his billing with a consummate performance to add Britain's fourth gold of the day.

Edgar, however, surprised his rivals with a staggering final lap to steal a silver medal behind Hoy.

I don't know how to sum it up," Hoy told BBC Sport. "It's just beyond expectations, and it's a day we'll remember for a long time.

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG There can be few better ambassadors for British sport than Chris Hoy BBC Sport's Simon Brotherton

The achievements were saluted by Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, as an important signpost ahead of the Olympics coming to Britain in four years' time.

"It's been fantastic, every moment the phone has been going with news of another medal," he said.

"What I think we've finally understood as a nation,and it's taken a while, is that you don’t get excellence on the cheap. You have to target and resource.

"There's been increased levels of funding, from Sydney to Athens through to now, and its been targeted really well on coaches."