Laura Kenny has been announced as the sixth member of Great Britain’s women’s endurance squad for the upcoming UCI World Championships in Holland.
The four time Olympic champion has been named alongside her husband, Jason Kenny, and the event begins just over six months after the birth of their son, Albie, on August 23.
👀 Look who's back…
We've named the Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the @UCI_Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn – and @LauraKenny31 and @JasonKenny107 will make their return!#DontCallItAComeback #Apeldoorn2018 https://t.co/zDcQFOoxNh pic.twitter.com/HOVIIgCt8N
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) February 7, 2018
Kenny shared the news, posting on Instagram, with the comment: “So there we go.. I’m am exciting[sic] to announce that I’m going back to where it all began. I have been selected to ride for GB at the world championships at the end of the month!”
The event takes place between February 28 and March 4. In 2016, Kenny (then Trott) was World Champion in both the omnium and scratch race disciplines, and third in the team pursuit – in total she has twelve World Champs titles to her name.
The 25-year-old posted a video created in partnership with sponsor Adidas, one week before the announcement, in which she explained “my life is way more stressful than it used to be, mainly because ‘mum’ comes first now, rather than just being this selfish person who gets up every morning to ride their bike.”
“The most difficult thing is actually leaving him behind, but to go to another Olympics I need to train, and I know that if I don’t do that session, then somebody else is, and that doesn’t sit well with me.”
Kenny returned to training in November, and she and her husband attended a GB training camp in January, taking Albie’s grandparents along to help ensure they could get out and ride.
Though we’ll have to wait to see where Britain’s most successful female Olympian’s form is now, she’s clearly been getting the hard yards in.
“I’m definitely the kind of person to throw myself back into training rather than taking it slow and steady at the start. It took some getting used to, I am slowly getting back into being what I call a full time athlete,” Kenny stated in her Adidas sponsored video.
She also shared a desire to inspire other women – adding: “I love the fact that I can be this sort of role model to other females who might thing ‘oh I don’t want to have a baby ‘cos of my career’, I want to try and be that person that can show other mums that actually you can do both.”
The full line up, as announced by British Cycling, is:
Men’s endurance: Dan Bigham, Ed Clancy, Kian Emadi, Ethan Hayter, Chris Latham, Mark Stewart, Charlie Tanfield, Ollie Wood
Women’s endurance: Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ellie Dickinson, Emily Kay, Laura Kenny, Emily Nelson
Men’s sprint: Jack Carlin, Phil Hindes, Jason Kenny, Ryan Owens, Callum Skinner, Joe Truman
Women’s sprint: Lauren Bate, Katy Marchant
