When you think of British sporting icons, names like Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe, Rebecca Adlington, Victoria Pendleton, and Nicola Adams often come to mind. Standing tall among these legends is track cyclist Dame Laura Kenny, a six-time Olympic medallist, with five of those medals being gold.
Born and raised in Essex, Kenny began cycling when her mother took up the sport to lose weight. Little did they know that, by the time of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Laura would become one of the nation’s heroes, winning two gold medals in the omnium and team pursuit in her Olympic debut. Kenny’s success at the London Olympics was only the beginning of her remarkable career. She continued her dominance on the track at the 2016 Rio Olympics, defending both her Olympic golds from 2012 and cementing herself as Britain’s most successful female Olympian.
“My career highlight is London 2012, it was on a home track and I grew up so close to that velodrome. The team pursuit has always had my heart and that was the event that came first. As cliché as it is, the only thing I ever wanted was to be Olympic champion so to do it there, at my first Olympics, there was never going to be anything that topped that,” Kenny smiles.
In 2017, Kenny and her husband, fellow track cyclist Jason Kenny, welcomed their son, Albie. Yet motherhood did not slow her down. Determined to push even further, Kenny entered the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as both a mother and elite-level athlete. She made history once again, winning gold in the first-ever women’s Madison race alongside Katie Archibald, and securing a silver medal in the women’s team pursuit.
Her record-breaking success lies beyond the Olympics, too. She held the World Championship title in the team pursuit for four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014 and also won the world title in the women’s omnium in 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. Overall, Kenny has won 63 medals at UCI World Championships, UEC European Championships, UCI World Cups, Olympic and Commonwealth Games – she even has a British National Road Race Championships title in her glittering palmarès, beating teammates Dani Rowe and Lizzie Deignan in 2014.
“I would hope people remember me for maintaining success. I think I underestimated that as an athlete, to actually stay at the top over three Olympic cycles is quite hard and the fact that I was able to do that is impressive,” Kenny says. “I hope there are lots of female riders getting on…