Dame Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, retires from cycling aged 31 to focus on growing family
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OLYMPIC legend Dame Laura Kenny has announced her retirement from cycling aged 31.
The star won five Olympic gold medals and amassed seven World Championship titles during her illustrious career.
She had been targeting a fourth gold at Paris this summer but, after giving birth to her second child last July, she has now announced that will not be happening.
Kenny told BBC Breakfast: “I always knew deep down I would know when was the right time.
“I have had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up.”
Kenny, who married to former cyclist and Britain’s only other more decorated Olympian Sir Jason Kenny, added: “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.
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“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.”
The couple welcomed their first child, a boy named Albie, into the world in 2017 but returned to cycling as she wanted to prove that athletes were able to juggle both motherhood with the demands of sport.
Laura suffered a miscarriage in 2021 and then months later an ectopic pregnancy before their second child, a boy called Monty, was born in 2023.
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She triumphed in London, Rio and Tokyo to become Britain's most successful ever female Olympian.
Laura was a part of the team pursuit quartet that claimed gold at London 2012, before she went on to win another in the omnium.
She repeated the feat in Rio with two more golds in the same events.
And in Tokyo she followed up a silver in the team pursuit with a dominant gold in the madison alongside good friend Katie Archibald.
In November she announced that she was planning a shock return to try and compete at Paris.
However, British Cycling performance director Stephen Park recently revealed that there was only a “slim chance” of that happening.
Laura added: “I was getting these hesitant feelings.
“Going on to win another gold medal, as much as I would love to do that, it wasn't giving me the energy I wanted anymore, it just wasn't.
“I wasn't thinking, 'I really want to go on and win one'. I was thinking, 'I really want to stay at home with the children'.”
As well as Olympic success, the star is also a 14-time European champion and won three medals, including two golds, at the Commonwealth Games.
Now she says that she is “open to doing anything and everything” after retiring from the track.
Laura added: “There's nothing set in stone but there are things I'm so interested in doing.
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“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.”