Laura Kenny announces retirement from track cycling: 'The time is right'
Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, Dame Laura Kenny, has announced her retirement from cycling today (18 March).
The five-time Olympic gold medallist had been targeting Paris 2024 but believes now is ‘the right time’ to hang the bike up.
“I have had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up,” she told BBC.
“It’s been in my head a little while, the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home are really quite big and it really is a big decision to make.”
Married to former cyclist Sir Jason Kenny, the pair have two children together, with Laura giving birth to their second son last July.
“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.”
Laura Kenny draws the curtain on a golden career
Kenny was destined for cycling greatness and showed as much from a young age.
She was just 18 when she won her first European title in the team pursuit, going on to win a world title in the same event just a year later in 2011.
At 20, Kenny took the Olympic Games London 2012 by storm when she won two gold medals in the team pursuit and omnium event, repeating this feat four years later at Rio 2016.
Following the birth of her first son in 2017, the three-time Olympian showed real determination to get back to her best for the postponed Tokyo 2020 - held in 2021 - Games.
Kenny won silver in the team pursuit, but it was the women's Madison where she and Katie Archibald made history by claiming gold.
The pair were crowned the first Olympic champions in that event, with Kenny becoming Britain's most successful female Olympian and the first British woman to win golds at three consecutive Games.
Kenny: We did this together
Kenny paid homage to the British Cycling team upon her announcement, saying: "British Cycling has been my second family since 2010. I had never moved away from home before and every single member of the team took me under their wing and made me feel at home.
"I will of course miss riding my bike, but I will miss the staff members and my teammates more. From lunch in with the mechanics to endless laps with the best teammates in the world: everyone at British Cycling, I thank you. We did this together."
Team Performance Director, Stephen Park CBE, believes the 31-year-old will go down as one of the best sporting talents the country has 'ever produced'.
"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," he said.
"She has been a beacon of inspiration for so many, young and old, and I'm sure the entire British Cycling community will join me in wishing her the very best in the next chapter of her life.
"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."