Laura Kenny, Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, has announced her retirement from cycling just four months before the Paris 2024 Games.
Kenny won five Olympic golds and seven world titles in her incredible career and is married to former cyclist Jason Kenny, who is the most successful British Olympian.
The 31-year-old gave birth to her second daughter last July and will not compete at this year’s Olympics in Paris, which begins on July 26.
“Thank you cycling for everything you’ve given me – including a husband and our growing family!” Kenny wrote on Instagram.
“Having people say I have inspired women and girls to get active and get on a bike means the world to me. Thanks to Team GB, British Cycling and all the partners who have supported my journey.
“A special thanks to every team-mate I have had over the years and of course to my family for being the best support unit I could ever have wished for. It’s now time to move on but stay following for the next chapter.”
Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny were seen as Britain’s ‘Golden Couple’ when it came to the Olympics
She added to BBC Breakfast: “It’s been in my head a little while, the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home is really quite big and it really is a big decision to make.
“More and more, I was struggling to do that. More people asking me what races was I doing, what training camps was I going on – I didn’t want to go ultimately and that’s what it came down to.
“I knew the minute I was getting those feelings. Once I said to Jase, ‘I don’t think I want to ride a bike anymore’, I started to feel relief.”
A glittering career
Kenny won the women’s omnium and team pursuit events at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics before giving birth in 2017. No other British woman has won four Olympic gold medals, with dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin next on the list with three golds.
In 2019, Kenny was back on form as she won several events across the Track Cycling World Cup and at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she won silver in the women’s team pursuit.
In the madison event, she teamed up with Katie Archibald to take a dominant gold and became the first British woman to win gold medals over three consecutive Olympics.
“I never thought I would go to a home Games, let alone go on to win two gold medals,” said Kenny.
“When I look back, I’m like ‘wow, those two weeks did really change my life’.”
Laura Kenny’s final Olympic gold came at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the Madison
The 14-time European champion had a miscarriage at nine weeks in November 2021 following the Olympics, and in January 2022, she underwent surgery due to ectopic pregnancy.
She won gold in the scratch race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, her last major honour.
Kenny was hoping to make a fourth Olympics appearance this summer but is yet to return to training for Great Britain and April’s Track Nations Cup in Canada would have been her last chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
“There’s nothing set in stone but there are things I’m so interested in doing,” said Kenny on her future after retirement.
“Something to help the younger generation, whether that could be some kind of academy.
“I could never be a coach because that’s just too much pressure for me, but maybe something in the background that would help the youngsters have the opportunities I had.”
