Laura Kenny has chance to claim three golds at Tokyo Olympics

Laura Kenny has confirmed that she has been given the chance to claim three golds at the Tokyo Olympics in August, racing in the omnium, team pursuit, and the first-ever women’s madison at an Olympic Games.

To date, Kenny has achieved a clean sweep at the Olympic events she’s contested, winning four gold medals from four attempts and becoming Britain’s most successful female Olympian in the process.

Now in Tokyo, she could eclipse the medal haul of her husband Jason Kenny and be crowned Britain’s most successful Olympian. However when asked about that prospect she said, “I don’t talk about medals.”

For Kenny, as the British Olympic team, there is to be a huge amount of pressure to deliver those three gold medals. “I don’t really think about it,” she said, “I’m just going to do a bike race. And we’re just preparing for a race, just how we would any other.”

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Last year was a difficult one for Kenny. In January she crashed during the tempo race of the omnium at the Track World Cup, breaking her shoulder. At the Track World Championships a month later, unable to compete in the madison because of her injury, Kenny crashed once again in the omnium. Then came the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Olympics. 

“For me as an athlete, having this extra year has just helped me,” Kenny said, “how I would have got selected for that madison, I do not know, I just wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I needed.”

A lot more has changed for Kenny since the Rio Olympic Games beyond targeting three instead of two events. In 2017 she gave birth to her son, Albie, who has changed her perspective regarding cycling.

“It’s quite nice because I think it’s just made me a lot more relaxed. It’s taken the overthinking out of it. I used to just want to analyse everything.” Now, it seems, a more relaxed Kenny is heading to Tokyo in search of three more medals.

Written by Issy Ronald