Olympic cycling legend Laura Kenny has retired and will not compete at this year's Paris Games; Kenny won five Olympic golds, seven European titles and 14 World Championships over 13 years; she is married to Britain's outright most decorated Olympian, Jason Kenny
Tuesday 19 March 2024 06:07, UK
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."
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."
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'."
Kenny had a miscarriage at nine weeks in November 2021 following the Olympics, and in January 2022, she underwent surgery due to ectopic pregnancy.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to cycling before winning a second Commonwealth Games gold in the scratch race in Birmingham that summer, her last major honour.
The 14-time European champion was hoping to make a fourth Olympics appearance this summer but hadn't returned to training for Great Britain this year 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."
Laura and Jason Kenny have remained relatively quiet away from cycling but will go down as two of Britain's greatest sportspeople.
Jason retired after the Tokyo Olympics and Laura has followed in her husband's footsteps over two years later.
Great Britain's cycling performance director, Stephen Park, oversaw the final part of Kenny's career including her return from giving birth to her first child.
"Laura hangs up her wheels as not just one of the sport's greatest riders, but as one of the greatest sporting talents our country has ever produced," said Park.
"All who have had the pleasure of watching Laura compete will pay witness to her peerless combination of craft and determination, which propelled her to become Britain's most successful female Olympian and the first British woman to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games.
"Just as impressive, however, is the impact which Laura has had on her fellow riders on the Great Britain Cycling Team and the next generation of Olympic hopefuls. She has been a beacon of inspiration for so many, young and old, and I'm sure that the entire British cycling community will join me in wishing her the very best in the next chapter of her life.
"From Welwyn Wheelers and our talent pathway to the very top of the sport, we're so proud of everything that she has achieved, and I'm sure she will continue to be one of our team's biggest supporters for many years to come."
