Sir Jason Francis Kenny, (born 23 March 1988) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the holder of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) for a British athlete. His wife, Laura Kenny, holds the same records on the female side, and together they are the most successful married couple in Summer Olympic history where both spouses have won at least one gold medal (with 12 gold and 3 silver medals between them). Kenny's seven Olympic gold medals place him joint 15th by reference to gold medals won in the Summer Olympic games since 1896. He is the single holder of the records for both most Olympic golds and Olympic medals for a cyclist. After winning World and European Junior titles in 2006 and achieving medals in the under-23 European championships in 2007, Kenny was selected to compete for Great Britain at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. With

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wo ...

and

Jamie Staff Jamie Alan Staff MBE (born 30 April 1973) is an English racing cyclist and coach, formerly on BMX and later on the track. A World and Olympic champion, he has also won numerous other medals at World Championships, World Cups and at the Commonw ...

, he won a gold medal in the team sprint, breaking the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the qualifying round. He finished behind Hoy in the final of the individual sprint, gaining a silver medal. In January 2012, he gained his first world championship title, when Grégory Baugé's results were nullified after a backdated 12-month ban for missing a drugs test, and the

Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues raci ...

(UCI) promoted Kenny to the gold medal. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in London, he won gold medals in both the team sprint and the individual sprint, beating Baugé in the final. At the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Kenny again won in the Team Sprint and the Individual Sprint, and also won the Keirin. In the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

he won the Keirin again.

Early life

Kenny was born on 23 March 1988.Jason Kenny biography
British Cycling. Retrieved 8 December 2013. Kenny's parents are Lorraine and Michael Kenny, and he has an older brother, Craig.. He was educated at Mount St Joseph School in Farnworth. In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Kenny visited the school and praised the support he had received from his PE teachers. He was a keen sportsperson during his youth, showing ability as a football goalkeeper as well as playing cricket and tennis, but having learned to ride a bicycle at a young age, became involved in track racing when he and his brother attended a track session at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, when an uncle had booked a session and had some spare places.

Career

Future Stars series

Kenny's first track competition was when he competed in the Future Stars series, a junior competition held as part of the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

series at the Manchester Velodrome. Kenny competed in a number of the ad hoc events during the first season of the Revolution in 2003/2004. In the second season, he competed in the first fully-fledged Future Series competition, taking part in a number of sprint and endurance events for 15- and 16-year-olds, during the season of four track meetings. The series provided young people with the chance to compete in front of a crowd from an early age; it is known for providing opportunity for many young riders. When the 2004/2005 season finished in February 2005, Kenny was in the top 10 of the final standings.

2005–2007

During the 2005/2006 racing season, Kenny competed for Great Britain at a junior level as a sprinter and won world titles at the junior world championships. In the 2006/2007 season, he competed at a senior level for the team and took part in a number of World Cup Classics events across the world and

events in Manchester, against some of the world's best Sprint riders. In the

events in the 2007/2008 season, Kenny beat the world champion Theo Bos.

2008

Kenny made his debut in the world championships in 2008, finishing fifth overall in the sprint competition. In the Olympic Games, he made the team sprint squad, replacing Ross Edgar at man 2 in the team just before the Games. The team defeated the French team that had beaten them to the world title in Manchester only months earlier by over half a second. In the sprint competition, Kenny reached the final, but was defeated by his teammate

2–0. His rise as a cyclist has been rapid. He progressed from competing in a domestic junior series to Olympic Champion in only 3 and a half years. Kenny was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

2009–2012

In the season following the 2008 Games, Kenny scored three gold medals in the 2008–09 Track Cycling World Cup Classics, and took a silver in the team sprint at the

2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the World Championship for track cycling. They took place at the BGŻ Arena in Pruszków, Poland from 25 to 29 March 2009. Nineteen events were on the programme, with the women's omnium being ad ...

alongside Jamie Staff and Matthew Crampton, losing out to France. In 2010 he took his first title at the European Track Championships, winning the gold in the keirin. At the 2012 World Championships, Kenny took a silver in the sprint behind Grégory Baugé and a bronze in the keirin.

2012 Olympics

At the London

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Kenny won gold in the team sprint with

and

Philip Hindes Philip Hindes MBE (born 22 September 1992) is a British track cyclist, specialising in sprints. He holds dual nationality, having been born in Germany to a British father. Having initially competed for Germany at a junior level, in 2010 he swi ...

, setting a new world record in the

London Velopark Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the ...

with a time of 42.6 seconds. He also won gold in the men's sprint final, setting a new Olympic record in qualifying and avenging his previous losses to Baugé with a 200m time of 10.308s in his final lap. Kenny was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

2013–2016

Following the 2012 Olympics Kenny competed at the 2013 World Championships, in the individual sprint and Team Sprint races he finished 7th and 6th respectively. He won the keirin event. His 2013–14 season started with national titles in all three Olympic sprint, team sprint and the keirin. At the first round of the UCI Track World Cup he failed to qualify for the sprint event, whilst finishing 4th in the Keirin and winning a bronze medal in the Team Sprint. At the second round of the World Cup, he secured silver medals in the Sprint and Team Sprint, but did not contest the Keirin. The World Cup/Championships season finished with the UCI World Championships where he failed to secure any medals, finishing 5th in all three events he contested. At the Commonwealth Games he won a silver medal in the Team Sprint. In the Sprint event he qualified 11th out of 12 qualifiers, and went on to lose his first round against Eddie Dawkins of New Zealand. This left him in the repechage, where he beat his Great Britain teammates Callum Skinner and Lewis Oliva to make it to the 1/8 finals. Despite his poor form in the early rounds, in the 1/8 round he beat Matthew Glaetzer, the fastest qualifier (qualifying almost half a second quicker) and holder of the Commonwealth record, in two straight rides, to secure his way into the semi-finals, where he beat Peter Lewis after three rides. In the final he won a silver medal, losing 2–1 to Sam Webster. In the 2014–15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Kenny took a gold in the team sprint in the round in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

. 2015 brought national titles in the 1 km time trial and the team sprint. In the run up to the Rio Olympics, he was part of the squad that won gold in the Hong Kong round of the 2015–16 Track World Cup alongside Hindes and Skinner and went on to win the gold in the sprint at the 2016 Track World Championships in London, defeating Matthew Glaetzer 2–1 in the final.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Kenny won gold in the men's team sprint with

and

Callum Skinner Callum Skinner (born 20 August 1992) is a British former track cyclist. He won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and was a member of the British team that won gold in the team sprint. Early life Skinner was ...

. The trio broke the world record twice in the Olympic competition, first in qualifying and again in the final against New Zealand, after the latter had set a new world record themselves in the first round. He won gold in the men's individual sprint, beating Callum Skinner in the final after losing just one ride, to eventual bronze medallist Denis Dmitriev in the semi-finals. On 16 August Kenny won the gold medal in the final of the men's Keirin after the race was re-started twice due to derny infringements, to join

as the holder of 6 Olympic gold medals, more than any other GB athlete. Kenny was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to cycling.

2017–2020

Following the Rio Games, Kenny made an unannounced retirement from competition, later stating that this was due to the physical and mental toll of cycle racing. However, after a year away from the track and the birth of his first child he decided to return to racing, stating in an interview in September 2017 that the break had "refreshed" him. Kenny made his comeback at a round of the Revolution series at Manchester Velodrome in January 2018, setting the fastest time in sprint qualifying ahead of a field that included rival Grégory Baugé and placing second in the sprint and keirin competitions. He returned to international championship competition at the

2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling in 2018. They took place in the Netherlands at the Omnisport Apeldoorn from 28 February to 4 March 2018. Schedule The schedule of events was as fol ...

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. Th ...

, where he was part of the silver medal-winning squad in the team sprint alongside Hindes,

Jack Carlin Jack Carlin (born 23 April 1997) is a Scottish track cyclist, who competes in sprinting events and won two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Cycling career In 2016, Carlin won his first senior international medal when taking silver at the Europ ...

, Ryan Owens and Joseph Truman, earning Team GB's first team sprint medal at the World Championships since 2011. Kenny, Carlin and Owens went on to earn two further team sprint silvers at the

2019 UEC European Track Championships The 2019 UEC European Track Championships was the tenth edition of the elite UEC European Track Championships in track cycling and took place at the Omnisport Apeldoorn in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, between 16 and 20 October 2019. The event was orga ...

, also held in Apeldoorn, and the 2020 World Championships on Berlin.

2020 Summer Olympics

At the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in the summer of 2021, Kenny, Carlin and Owens took another team sprint silver, losing out to the Dutch team in the final. Although this was Kenny's first loss in an Olympic final, the medal made him Britain's most successful Olympian. In the sprint, he placed eighth in qualifying, and his bid to defend his title received a setback when he lost in the 1/8 finals to

Denis Dmitriev Denis Sergeyevich Dmitriev (russian: Денис Сергеевич Дмитриев; born 23 March 1986) is a Russian track cyclist. Specialising in the sprint events, Dmitriev's best result in international sports was winning a gold medal at th ...

: although he was able to secure a slot in the quarter finals by winning the repechage, he was knocked out in the last eight by Harrie Lavreysen, losing 2–0 to the Dutchman before finishing last in the small final, securing eighth place overall. In the keirin, Kenny took the gold medal after going on the attack when the derny pulled off the track with three laps to go, building on a gap that had already appeared between himself and the rest of the field led by

Matthew Glaetzer Matthew Glaetzer (born 24 August 1992) is an Australian track cyclist. Career He competed in the team sprint event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won the 2012 World Championship in the team sprint with Scott Sunderland and Shane Perkins. ...

and holding on to the lead to cross the finish line with a gap of over three quarters of a second over the second placed

Azizulhasni Awang Malay styles and titles#State titles, Dato' Muhammad Azizulhasni bin Awang (born 5 January 1988) is a Malaysians, Malaysian professional Track cycling, track cyclist. Nicknamed "The Pocket Rocketman" due to his small stature, he is the first ...

. The win gave him his seventh gold medal and ninth medal overall, making him the British Olympian with most golds and most medals. Kenny was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are ...

in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to cycling, and therefore granted the title '' sir''. His wife Laura was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the same list, also for services to cycling. In February of that year, Kenny announced that he was retiring from competition in order to take the role of men's podium sprint coach with British Cycling.

Personal life

On 24 September 2016, Kenny married the track cyclist Laura Trott. As of 2016, the couple live near

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census was ...

in Cheshire. On 14 February 2017, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child; their son Albie was born on 23 August 2017. In November 2021, his wife and he lost a baby due to a miscarriage at nine weeks, and in January 2022, they had an ectopic pregnancy. Kenny is a motorsport enthusiast and has participated in car racing in his spare time, including racing a Ginetta G40, and scored a podium finish in a round of the

Radical European Masters The Radical European Masters, or REM for short, is a one make sports cars motor racing series launched in 2008. Radical European Masters cars There are two classes in the European Masters, the main class featuring Radical SR8 and Radical RXC ...

at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

in 2014. Taken together, Jason and Laura Kenny have won 12 Olympic gold medals, which places them among the most successful Olympic medalist families of all time.

Major results

Source: ;2005 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team sprint, National Track Championships ;2006 : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team sprint (

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) ::3rd

Team sprint (

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

) :

UCI Junior Track World Championships The UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships (named the UCI Juniors Track World Championships before 2016) are a set of world championship events for junior riders, for various disciplines and distances in track cycling and are regulated by t ...

::1st

Sprint ::1st Jersey rainbow

Team sprint ::1st Jersey rainbow

Keirin ;2007 : UEC European Under–23 Track Championships ::3rd Bronze medal europe

Sprint ::3rd Bronze medal europe

Team sprint ;2008 :

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

::1st

Team sprint ::2nd Silver medal olympic

Sprint : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Sprint (

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

) ::1st

Team sprint (

) ::2nd

Keirin (Manchester) ;2009 : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team sprint (

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

) ::2nd

Team sprint (

) ::3rd

Sprint (

) : 2nd

Team sprint, Track World Championships : UEC European Under–23 Track Championships ::2nd Silver medal europe

Keirin ::2nd Silver medal europe

Sprint ::2nd Silver medal europe

Team sprint ;2010 :

UEC European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

::1st

Keirin ::3rd Bronze medal europe

Sprint ::3rd Bronze medal europe

Team sprint : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team sprint, National Track Championships : 3rd Bronze medal blank

Team sprint, UCI Track World Championships : 1st Gold medal blank

Team sprint, ;2011 : UCI Track World Championships ::1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint ::2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint : UCI Track World Cup Classics ::2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint (

) ::3rd

Team sprint (

) ;2012 :

::1st

Sprint ::1st Gold medal olympic

Team sprint : UCI Track World Championships ::2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Keirin : UCI Track World Cup ::2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint (

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

) ::3rd

Team sprint (

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) ;2013 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Keirin, UCI Track World Championships : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Keirin ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Sprint ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team sprint :

::2nd

Keirin ::3rd Bronze medal europe

Sprint : UCI Track World Cup ::2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint (

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of a ...

) ::2nd

Team sprint (

) ::3rd

Team sprint (

) ;2014 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team Sprint, National Track Championships :

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

::2nd

Sprint ::2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team sprint (

) ::2nd

Sprint (

) ;2015 : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Kilo ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team sprint ;2016 :

::1st

Team sprint ::1st Gold medal olympic

Sprint ::1st Gold medal olympic

Keirin : 1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint, UCI Track World Championships : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team sprint (

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

) ::3rd

Sprint (

) ;2018 : 2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint, UCI Track World Championships ;2019 : 2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint,

;2020 : 2nd Silver medal blank

Team sprint, UCI Track World Championships ;2021 :

::1st

Keirin ::2nd Silver medal olympic

Team sprint