In 2012, he began focusing on track cycling. He was part of the four-man Great Britain pursuit team that set a new world record time of 3:53.295 seconds to win gold in the track world championships on 4 April 2012 in Melbourne. That achievement however was bettered on 3 August when he formed part of the Team GB pursuit team alongside Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke, that not only took Gold at the Summer Olympics but, with a time of 3:51.659, shattered their own world record that they had set in qualifying. Kennaugh was the first Manxman to win an Olympic gold since 1912.