Dame Laura Rebecca Kenny, Lady Kenny ( Trott; born 24 April 1992) is a British track and

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

cyclist who specialises in track endurance events, specifically the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

omnium An omnium (from Latin '' Omni'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that fe ...

scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

, elimination race and

madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

disciplines. With six Olympic medals, having won both the team pursuit and the omnium at both the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Olympics and madison at the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Olympics, along with a silver medal from the team pursuit at the 2020 Olympics, she is both the most successful female cyclist, and the most successful British female athlete, in Olympic history. Her husband, fellow British track cyclist Sir

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

, holds the same national and Olympic achievement on the male side, and together they are the most successful married couple in Olympic history where both spouses have won at least one gold medal (with 12 gold and three silver medals between them). Since first appearing at the

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 ...

in 2010, she has won seven World Championship, 14 European Championship and two

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 exce ...

titles, as part of a total of 34 medals. On the road, Kenny won the

British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) and t ...

in 2014, taking the under-23 title in the same race, but has not competed since 2015.

Early life

Kenny was born a month prematurely in Harlow in Essex with a

collapsed lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

and was later diagnosed with

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

. She was advised by doctors to take up sport in order to regulate her breathing. She enjoyed and competed in trampolining but had to give up due to respiratory problems. She grew up in

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, ...

in Hertfordshire, where she attended

Turnford School Haileybury Turnford (formerly Turnford School) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Turnford, Hertfordshire, England. Previously a community school administered by Hertfordshire County Council, in September 2015 Turn ...

. Her older sister Emma Trott is a former road racing cyclist. She is an avid supporter of

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

She began in the sport together with her sister when they rode alongside their mother who had taken up cycling in order to lose weight.

Career

She won two junior titles at both the 2009 and 2010 British National Track Championships, and placed third in the

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and for women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the ...

at the latter to win a place in the

2010 European Track Championships The 2010 European Track Championships were the inaugural elite European Track Championships in track cycling and took place at the BGŻ Arena in Pruszków, Poland, between 5 and 7 November. All ten Olympic events ( sprint, team sprint, keirin, ...

team pursuit squad aged just 18. After winning gold at the Euros, she went on to take her first

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

title at the 2011 championships, again as part of the team pursuit squad. In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics she won a further two World and two European golds, in both the team pursuit and the omnium, before securing her place in the Great Britain team as those events made their Olympic debut. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Kenny won a gold medal in the team pursuit with Dani King and

Joanna Rowsell Joanna Katie Rowsell MBE (born 5 December 1988) is a retired English cyclist on the Great Britain Cycling Team who competed on track and road. Her greatest successes were the gold medals won in the women's team pursuit at the 2012 London Olym ...

. The team set a world record time of 3:14.051 in this event. Including pre-Olympics races and the Olympics final itself, in the six times they had ridden together they had broken the world record in every race. She also won gold in the omnium, two days after winning gold in the team pursuit. For the 2012 road season, Kenny joined Team Ibis Cycles, though she competed in only five races. 2013 saw her increase her road racing commitments with new team Wiggle Honda. Her best result was a second place at the

, bringing her the under-23 title, though her road racing was intended to function in service of her track preparation, rather than replacing it. Kenny took further World and European team pursuit gold medals at the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

championships, as well as European ominium title and World ominium silver in both those years. After making the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow her focus for this period, she entered the games with a kidney infection and finished well down the field in the scratch race and individual pursuit. Recovering as the Games progressed, she won a gold medal for England, in the points race. On the road she went one better at the national road championships, winning the title for her first senior road race win. In February 2015, Kenny failed to win a title at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for the first time in her career, finishing second in both the team pursuit and omnium. The result was part of a poor Championships for Britain, with the team finishing without a gold for the first time since 2001. Trott moved to the new Matrix Fitness Vulpine team for 2015 as a lead rider, moving to the team in order to better combine her road and track cycling ambitions. After a road season in which her best result was 3rd in National Championships, Trott returned won three gold medals at the 2015 European Championships, in the team pursuit, scratch race and omnium. 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. Rio 2016 - Track cycling 13 August (CT004) (29168562610)

Rio 2016 - Track cycling 13 August (CT004) (29168562610)

At the

2016 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 ...

Trott was a favourite for the omnium, and with hopes of a medal in the

. In the team pursuit, Great Britain took gold setting world records in the qualification and final of the tournament, defeating the American world champions in the final. This made Trott the first British woman to win three golds, though this achievement was matched by Charlotte Dujardin the next day. In the Ominium, Trott dominated from the start and finished in the top two in five of the six events, to take a comfortable gold medal and once again become Britain's most successful female Olympian. Following the end of the track cycling competition at the games, Trott and her

fiancé An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

were lauded in the British press as a 'golden couple', having won five gold medals between them in 2016, to reach a total of ten as a couple. 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 List of Olympic Games h ...

in the summer of 2021, Kenny and her team-mates took the silver medal in the

: they briefly held 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 ...

after their ride in the first round before Germany set a faster time in the next heat and secured a place in the gold medal final against Team GB. Germany broke their world record again in the final to win the gold, finishing six seconds ahead of the British team. Kenny and

Katie Archibald Katie Archibald, (born 12 March 1994) is an elite Scottish and British Cycle sport, racing cyclist, specialising in endurance track cycling events in which she represents British Cycling, Great Britain and Scotland. A member of the Great Brita ...

subsequently went on to become the first Olympic champions in the women's Madison with a dominant performance, winning 10 of the race's 12 sprints and gaining a lap on the field with 20 laps to go to secure a total of 78 points, more than twice the score of the second-placed Danish team. The win made Kenny the first British woman to win golds at three consecutive Olympics, the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history, eclipsing

Leontien van Moorsel Leontien Martha Henrica Petronella Zijlaard-van Moorsel (born 22 March 1970) is a Dutch retired racing cyclist. She was a dominant cyclist in the 1990s and early 2000s, winning four gold medals at the Olympic Games and holding the hour record ...

, and tied her with Charlotte Dujardin for the most Olympic medals won by a British female sportsperson. In the

, Kenny's medal hopes suffered a setback in the opening scratch race when she was involved in a multi-rider crash on the penultimate lap. She went on to win the tempo race but could only finish 13th in the elimination race. After the closing points race she moved up from ninth place to finish sixth in the overall standings. Kenny was subsequently selected as the flag bearer for the British team at the Games' closing ceremony.

Personal life

Trott married track cyclist

at a private ceremony on 24 September 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. Their son was born on 23 August 2017. In November 2021, she suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks, and in January 2022, she underwent a surgery due to ectopic pregnancy.

Honours and awards

Trott was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were 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 are awarded as part of the New Year celebrat ...

for services to cycling and

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 ...

, also for services to cycling. Both Laura and

received their CBEs on Tuesday 25 April 2017 at an Investiture in Buckingham Palace. Taken together, Laura and Jason Kenny won 12 Olympic gold medals, which places them among the most successful Olympic medalist families of all time. She received an Honorary Degree from the University of Essex in 2013. In 2014, the former Grundy Park Leisure Centre in

was renamed The Laura Trott Leisure Centre in her honour following a £4 million redevelopment. Trott attended the launch ahead of competing in stage four of the first Women's Tour from Cheshunt to Welwyn Garden City. Kenny was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to cycling. Her husband Jason was knighted in the same list, also for services to cycling. As a result she is styled ‘Lady Kenny’ because she is the wife of a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. They were both invested at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

on 17 May 2022.

Major results

Track

;2008 : 3rd Sprint, National Junior Track Championships ;2009 : National Junior Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Points race ::2nd 500m TT :: 3rd

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

(with Hannah Mayho) ;2010 : 1st UEC Champion Jersey

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

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 ...

: National Junior Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

500m TT ::2nd Points race ::2nd Scratch race : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National Derny Championships : 3rd Individual pursuit, National Track Championships ;2011 : 1st Jersey rainbow

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

::1st

Omnium An omnium (from Latin '' Omni'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that fe ...

:UEC European U23 Track Championships ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Individual Pursuit ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Scratch Race ::1st Team Pursuit (with Katie Colclough and Dani King) : UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Cali ::3rd Omnium – Cali : National Track Championships ::2nd Individual pursuit ::2nd Points race ::2nd Scratch race ::3rd 500m TT ;2012 :

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 vari ...

::1st

::1st

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

Team pursuit – London ::1st Gold medal blank

Omnium –

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 popul ...

::1st

Team pursuit –

::3rd Omnium – London ;2013 :

::1st

::2nd

::1st

Omnium :UEC European U23 Track Championships ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Individual Pursuit ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Omnium ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Points Race :1st MaillotReinoUnido

Road Race, National U23 Road Championships : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Points race ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

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

Team pursuit –

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 t ...

::1st

Omnium –

::2nd Omnium – Aguascalientes :3rd Scratch Race, Revolution – Round 1, Manchester ;2014 :

::1st

::2nd

::1st

: 1st

Points race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 18 ...

: National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Scratch race ::2nd Individual pursuit ::3rd Points race : UCI Track World Cup ::1st gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Guadalajara ::1st gold medal blank

Team pursuit – London ::1st gold medal blank

Omnium – London :Revolution ::1st Omnium – Round 1, London ::1st Points Race – Round 4, Manchester ::1st Scratch Race – Round 4, Manchester ::1st Omnium – Round 5, London ::1st Points Race – Round 2, Manchester ::3rd Scratch Race – Round 2, Manchester :1st Omnium, Fenioux Piste International ;2015 :

::1st

::1st

Scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

::1st

: National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual Pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Scratch race ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Points race :Revolution ::1st Omnium – Round 1, Derby ::1st Points Race – Round 2, Manchester ::1st Points Race – Round 4, Glasgow ::1st Points Race – Round 5, London ::1st Scratch Race – Round 4, Glasgow ::1st Scratch Race – Round 5, London ::2nd Scratch Race – Round 1, Derby ::3rd Individual Pursuit – Round 1, Derby ::3rd Scratch Race – Round 6, Manchester : Grand Prix of Poland ::1st Omnium ::1st Scratch race :

::2nd

:2nd Omnium, Internationale Radsport Meeting ;2016 :

::1st

::3rd

: 1st

National Madison Championships :Revolution ::1st Points Race - Round 5, Manchester ::1st Points Race - Round 6, Manchester ::1st Scratch Race - Round 6, Manchester ::2nd Scratch Race - Round 5, Manchester : 1st Omnium, Grand Prix of Poland :1st Omnium, Fenioux Piste International :Revolution Champions League ::2nd Omnium - Round 2, London ::2nd Scratch Race - Round 2, London ::3rd Points Race - Round 2, London ;2018 : National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Omnium ;2021 :

:: 1st

(with

) :: 2nd

;2022 : 1st gold medal blank

Road

;2009 : 2nd National Criterium Championships ;2011 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Road race, National Under–23 Road Championships ;2013 : 1st RideLondon GrandPrix : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;2014 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Road race, National Under–23 Road Championships : 1st Overall Surf & Turf 2-Day ::1st Stages 1, 2 & 3 ;2015 : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships

References

External links

* *
Biography
at

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

Profile
at Team Ibis Cycles website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Laura 1992 births Living people UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) People from Cheshunt Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in cycling English Olympic medallists English female cyclists Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games British cycling road race champions Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling English track cyclists European Championships (multi-sport event) gold medalists The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year winners Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Sporting dames Wives of knights Cyclists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England

Early life

Career

Personal life

Honours and awards

Major results

Track

Road

See also

References

External links