(Reuters) -Britain’s most decorated Olympian Jason Kenny has called time on his cycling career and will take up a position as a sprint coach with British Cycling, the 33-year-old said.
Kenny became Britain’s greatest Olympian as he powered to victory in the men’s keirin at the Tokyo Games in August to win the seventh gold medal of his incredible career and surpass former track cycling team mate Chris Hoy.
Kenny’s nine Olympic medals is the most by a British athlete in any sport and he had said in November he was not optimistic about competing in Paris 2024 due to pain while training.
“A massive part of me would love to continue and try to get to Paris and I’m a bit sad in a way to not do that,” Kenny told the BBC. “The opportunity at British Cycling to be a coach might not be there in three years. I thought I’d take it now.”
Kenny said that racing and training was “all I’ve ever known” but he was looking forward to the next phase.
“It’s a step into the unknown. I’ve worked with amazing coaches and I’m trying to unlock my memories of what I remember as a rider and what I liked,” Kenny added.
“I’m diving straight into this next role and trying to help support the lads, most of whom are at the start of their journeys. Hopefully I can help give them as good an experience as I’ve had.”
The often unassuming and self-deprecating Kenny has been at the forefront of Britain’s domination of track cycling at the Olympics.
He won his first Olympic gold medal in the team sprint at the Beijing Olympics, where he was beaten by team mate Hoy in the individual event and had to settle for the silver medal.
At London 2012, he won both team and individual sprint gold and at the Rio Games in 2016 he went one better, also winning the keirin gold as Britain again dominated the velodrome.
Kenny also won one other Olympic silver medal, and while he only managed three world titles, he always timed his peaks perfectly for the Games.
After the 2016 Olympics he married British track cycling great Laura Trott, who has won five Olympic gold medals.
Six-time Olympic champion Hoy said he hopes Kenny would now help guide the next generation of British sprinters.
“He was a fantastic team mate and an extraordinary athlete, and I’m looking forward to seeing him translate his experiences over four Olympic Games into supporting the next generation of talented British riders to achieve their best,” he said.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, Martyn Herman in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Hugh Lawson)
