Laura Kenny
Dame Laura Rebecca Kenny, Lady Kenny, is an English former professional track and road cyclist who specialised in track endurance events. These included the team pursuit, omnium, scratch race, and madison disciplines. She won six Olympic medals during her career—five golds and one silver. Her five Olympic gold medals are an all-time record for a British female Olympian, and her overall tally of six medals is a joint-record alongside Charlotte Dujardin.
Kenny became a European champion for the first time in 2010, and world champion for the first time in 2011. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she won gold medals in both the team pursuit and the omnium. Kenny won further world titles in 2013, 2014 and 2016 before successfully defending her Olympic titles in both the team pursuit and the omnium at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Kenny became a mother in 2017, but returned in 2018, securing two gold medals in the European Championships later that year. Further European titles followed and she won her fifth Olympic gold in the madison event at the delayed 2020 games in Tokyo, as well as securing a silver in the team pursuit. Kenny gave birth again in 2023, and she retired from cycling four months prior to the 2024 Summer Olympics.
During her track cycling career, she won five Olympic, seven World Championship, fourteen European Championship and two Commonwealth Games titles. Kenny predominantly focused on track cycling during her career. Her best result in road racing was victory in the British National Road Race Championships in 2014. In 2016, she married fellow cyclist Jason Kenny, and between them, they have won fifteen Olympic medals, including twelve golds, a record for married Olympic gold medallists. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours and is a member of the British Cycling Hall of Fame.
Early life
Kenny was born a month prematurely, and with a collapsed lung in Harlow, Essex. She was later diagnosed with asthma, and was advised by doctors to take up sport in order to help control her breathing. She took part in trampolining but had to give up as she kept passing out while jumping. She grew up in Cheshunt, where she attended Turnford School, and her older sister Emma Trott also became a road racing cyclist. The sisters began cycling when they rode with their mother who had taken up cycling to help lose weight. At around the age of nine, she joined a local cycling club called the Welwyn Wheelers.Career
2008–2012
Kenny won the British girls under-16 scratch race title at the 2008 National Junior and Youth Track Championships as well as finishing second in the under-16 sprint. She also secured a sprint bronze in the junior category. The following year, she claimed the junior women's pursuit title at the 2009 British National Track Championships, as well as finishing second in the scratch race. On the road that year, she was victorious in the Essex Giro, and thus secured the title of British women's Junior Road Race champion. The following year, she finished fourth in the 2010 World Junior Road Race Championships, and then competed at the World Junior Track Championships, where she won gold in the omnium, and silver medals in the individual pursuit and points race. At national-level, Kenny won the individual pursuit, points race and the 500 m time trial at the 2010 British National Junior Track Championships. She was then selected to compete for England at senior-level in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she finished seventh in the individual pursuit. She was then selected for the British Olympic Academy Programme. At the 2010 European Championships in Pruszków, she won her first senior-level gold medal. Racing with teammates Katie Colclough and Wendy Houvenaghel, the trio finished first in the team pursuit, overcoming Lithuania in the final.Kenny won her first world title at the 2011 World Track Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn, as part of the team pursuit line-up with Dani Rowe and Houvenaghel. Great Britain secured victory over the United States in the gold medal race. She then secured three gold medals at the under-23 European Track Championships in Anadia, triumphing in the scratch race, individual pursuit and team pursuit. In October, returning to senior competition at the European Track Championships, she finished in first place in both the team pursuit and omnium. Later in the year, at the 2011–12 Track Cycling World Cup event in Cali, Kenny finished with a gold medal in the team pursuit and a bronze medal in the omnium.
For the 2012 road season, Kenny joined Team Ibis Cycles, with whom she competed in five races, but recorded no podium finishes. Back on the track, she enjoyed success in the run up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning two world titles at the World Track Cycling Championships in Melbourne. In the team pursuit, Great Britain twice broke the world record, setting a fastest time of 3:15.720 in the final. She followed this up with victory in the omnium.
At the Summer Olympics in London, Kenny won a gold medal in the team pursuit with Rowe and Rowsell. In their victory against the United States in the gold medal race, Great Britain set a new world and Olympic record time of 3:14.051 for the event. Afterwards, Kenny said "I can't believe it. It's been my dream since I was eight. We've gone and done it. I don't think we expected it." Including pre-Olympics races and the Olympics final itself, in the six times they had ridden together the trio had broken the world record in every race. She also won gold in the omnium, two days after winning gold in the team pursuit.
2013–2016
Kenny joined the Wiggle Honda team in 2013 and in her first start for the team, she finished fourth at the GP Dottignies in Belgium. She also recorded a second-place finish at the British National Road Race Championships, which secured her the British under-23 title.In 2013, Kenny won a world title in the team pursuit at the Track Cycling World Championships in Minsk, as well as finishing in second place in the omnium. During the season, the women's team pursuit was increased to four riders, with the race distance also lengthened to 4 km. In July, she was crowned the champion in both the individual pursuit and the points race at the 2013 Junior/U23 European Track Championships, beating her British teammate Elinor Barker to gold in both disciplines. In September, Kenny won four national titles, triumphing in the team pursuit, pursuit, points race and the madison. She then won gold medals in both the team pursuit and the omnium at the European Track Championships in Apeldoorn. Great Britain, featuring Kenny, King, Rowsell and Barker also set a new world record time of 4:26.556 during their victory in the team pursuit. In the 2013–14 Track Cycling World Cup, Kenny was part of the same British quartet who again broke the team pursuit world record, this time in Manchester, setting a time of 4:19.604. She also went on to claim the omnium title in Manchester, before claiming silver in the omnium at the next leg of the series in Aguascalientes.
Kenny won gold in the team pursuit at the 2014 Track Cycling World Championships, and she later collected a silver in the omnium. She then competed for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. At the start of the competition, she was still suffering from a recent kidney infection and she finished out of the medal places in both the scratch race and individual pursuit. Kenny recovered as the Games progressed, and she claimed a gold medal after triumphing in the points race. On the road, she was victorious at the national road championships, finishing ahead of King and Lizzie Armitstead, and she stated afterwards that her win was "up there with winning a world championships." Returning to the track, Kenny won gold in both the team pursuit and the omnium at the European Track Championships in Guadeloupe. In the 2014–15 Track Cycling World Cup, Kenny was part of the British quartet that triumphed in the team pursuit at the events in Guadalajara and London. Additionally, she claimed gold in the omnium in London.
In February 2015, Kenny failed to win a title at the World Championships for the first time in her career, finishing second in both the team pursuit and omnium. The result was part of a disappointing Championships for Great Britain, with the team finishing without a gold for the first time since 2001. She signed as a lead rider for the Matrix Fitness Vulpine team for her road racing that year, moving to the team in order to better combine her road and track cycling aspirations. After a road season in which her best result was third in the National Championships, Kenny returned to track cycling and won three gold medals at the European Track Championships, in the team pursuit, scratch race and the omnium. Kenny also claimed gold in the omnium at the 2015–16 Track Cycling World Cup event in Cali, winning the event by fifty-three points.
At the beginning of 2016, Kenny won gold in the omnium and a silver in the scratch race at the Track Cycling World Cup event in Hong Kong. She followed this with gold medals in the scratch race and omnium at the 2016 World Championships in London, as well as a bronze in the team pursuit.
File:Rio 2016 - Track cycling 13 August .jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Kenny after winning team pursuit gold at the 2016 Olympics
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kenny competed for medals in both the team pursuit and omnium. In the team pursuit, Great Britain, featuring Kenny, Barker, Rowsell and Katie Archibald took gold, defeating the American world champions in the final with a world record time of 4:10.236. This made Kenny the first British woman to win three golds, though this achievement was matched by Charlotte Dujardin the next day. In the Omnium, Kenny finished in the top two in five of the six events, to secure her second gold medal of the games and again become Britain's leading female Olympian in terms of gold medals won. Following the end of the track cycling competition at the games, she and her fiancé Jason Kenny were described in the British press as the 'golden couple', having won five gold medals between them in at the 2016 games. At the end of the year, she was a nominee for the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, and she was also awarded Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.