A talented rider as a junior, an accident in the Tour of Ireland as an 18 year old started a year of misfortune for Darren Kenny. The fractured skull and vertabrae suffered in the crash were compiled by a car smash and work accident, all within the space of 12 months and all featuring head injuries.
The accumulative effect of the three incidents left Kenny with restricted movement on the right side of the body and on heavy medication to dull the pain.
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At the age of thirty, Kenny started on the comeback trail. With adjusted medication and less side-effects, the rider from Dorset got back on the bike - initially to lose weight and get fit - and dropped from 92kg to 69kg.
He was soon back into competition on the track, initially in the local track league at Calshot, before discovering and making contact with the Paralympic squad.
Kenny took two golds and a silver at the Athens Paralympics and has been winning track World Championships and setting new World records ever since. He reached new heights at the Beijing Paralympics, bagging four golds and a silver from the five events ridden - kilo, team sprint, pursuit, road time trial and road race.
The 2012 Olympics in London were not quite as prolific, coming in the twilight of Kenny's career, but he nonetheless came away with bronze in the individual pursuit and silver in the mixed team sprint.
He holds the ‘absolute hour' record (using aero equipment), which stands at 41.817km, and recently added the ‘athletes' hour' (on a standard bike), covering 40.156km on the Copenhagen track.
Kenny was awarded the OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list in recognition of his achievements.
Darren Kenny results
2009
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, kilo gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, pursuit gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, team sprint gold
World champion, CP3 'kilo'
World champion, CP3 pursuit
World champion, CP3 team sprint
CP3 Athlete's Hour record
2008
Paralympic champion pursuit
Paralympic champion team sprint
Paralympic champion kilo
Paralympic champion road race
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester kilo gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester pursuit gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester team sprint gold
2007
World Disability champion pursuit
World Disability champion kilo
2006
World Disability champion pursuit
World Disability champion kilo
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester kilo gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester team sprint gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester pursuit gold
2005
World Disability champion pursuit
World Disability champion kilo
World Disability champion team sprint
World Disability champion 200m sprint
World Disability champion road race
European Paralympic Championship pursuit gold
European Paralympic Championship kilo gold
European Paralympic Championship team sprint
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester pursuit gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester kilo gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester 200m sprint gold
Paralympic World Cup, Manchester team sprint gold
2004
Paralympic champion pursuit
Paralympic champion kilo
Darren Kenny photos
Click on the thumbnails of Darren Kenny below to open a larger image in a new window.
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