GB's golden team sprinters share what Chris Hoy means to them after his terminal cancer diagnosis

When track cycling legend Chris Hoy announced his terminal cancer diagnosis in October, the British sporting world reacted with an outpouring of love and support for the Scotsman.

Unsurprisingly, the news hit home a lot harder for Team GB's track cycling squad, with which Hoy is closely linked. Hoy's success including seven Olympic medals, six of them gold, makes him Britain's second-most-successful Olympian, while the velodrome in the Scottish city of Glasgow is named for him.

Speaking to Olympics.com at the ANOC Awards recently, Olympic champions Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell, and Emma Finucane all told of their sadness at the news, sharing what Hoy means to them and their sport.

The trio, who won women's team sprint gold at Paris 2024 in a new world record time, each expressed their love and support for Hoy and his family, including his wife Sarra who received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis around the same time as Chris's cancer news.

"When you think of track cycling, you think of Chris Hoy," Marchant said. "He will always have that. He's really, really special to track cycling and someone that we've always looked up to as a role model."

Finucane added: "He's been in the sport for many, many years and yeah, he's really the face of British track cycling. When we heard that news, it really hit home because obviously being a British sprinter and knowing Chris and he's… I've seen him around all the time, it's really sad news."

Hoy is "amazing in everything he's done on and off the bike and is an amazing personality," Capewell offered.

While the news was unexpected, Hoy's public announcement of his prostate cancer diagnosis led to a reported increase in men speaking to their doctors and searching out more information.

"He's been incredible throughout," Marchant said. "Him and his family are obviously have an incredibly difficult time at the minute, but he's using it as and using his platform to breed positivity and have a different outlook on life."

That positive mentality and Hoy's continued public-facing work in the media despite his diagnosis was also picked up on by Capewell.

"The outlook that they've put on and the way he is in the media and in public is just amazing," she said.