Jason Kenny: A publicity-shy sprint king who became Britain’s greatest Olympian

No British athlete has won more Olympic gold medals than Kenny

No British athlete has won more Olympic gold medals than Jason Kenny (David Davies/PA) (PA Archive)

Sir Jason Kenny has been Britain’s silent assassin on a bike for over a decade.

Softly spoken, humble, and laid back – a self-professed “miserable sod” – Kenny is not one to make much noise until he climbs on to his bike.

It is then he is transformed into an explosive machine.

He is Britain’s most successful Olympian with seven gold medals and two silvers collected across four Games, from his debut in Beijing in 2008 to his thrilling final flourish on the last day in Tokyo.

Kenny, right, won his first Olympic gold in Beijing alongside Jamie Staff, left, and Chris Hoy (John Giles/PA) (PA Archive)

The 33-year-old had openly discussed the idea of carrying on until Paris after his stunning keirin gold in Japan, but has instead accepted a role to become British Cycling’s men’s podium sprint coach.

It is not the first time he has retired – Kenny quietly stepped away after Rio, never announcing his decision until he reversed it a year later – but this time it is surely definitive.

Kenny knew he was off the pace in Tokyo, struggling in both the team and individual sprint events, and his keirin gold was as much a surprise to him as anybody else – his rivals allowed him too much rope as he attacked early, perhaps believing themselves there was no chance he could stay away.

It will now go down as his final race as Kenny steps out of a spotlight he never sought.

The Bolton native excelled in several sports in school, but his first exposure to track cycling came when his uncle booked a session at the Manchester velodrome and had some spare places – inviting Jason and his older brother Craig to make up the numbers.

Kenny signed off with a stunning keirin victory at the Tokyo Olympics (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Archive)

He had found his calling. Kenny moved swiftly through the ranks, winning a national title in the team sprint aged 17 and then breaking into the Great Britain World Cup squad in 2007.

After making his World Championships debut in 2008, Kenny went to the Beijing Olympics and won gold in the team sprint, marking his progress from a domestic junior to Olympic champion in the space of three-and-a-half years.

Four years later Kenny collected two more golds, and it was also at the London Games that the world first learned of his romance with Laura Trott, with the pair spotted kissing as they sat behind David Beckham at the beach volleyball.

They were cycling’s golden couple, but Jason was always happy to take a backseat to Laura in public.

Laura was the one that would earn endorsements and get her picture in the paper, while Jason loved the relative anonymity which allowed him to catch the train into Manchester and not be recognised.

After a Rio Games at which Jason completed a clean sweep with gold in the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin, they married quietly close to home in Cheshire.

Jason and Laura were first seen together in public at the London Olympics (Tim Ireland/PA) (PA Archive)

Few knew it at the time, but as far as Jason was concerned he had retired, settling into family life as the couple welcomed the birth of their son Albie. However, the competitive juices soon started flowing again.

His return was not easy. He was threatened by the emergence of younger rivals both in the Great Britain squad and then on the world scene.

The Dutch were dominating track sprinting, and underlined their superiority by pushing Britain into silver in the Olympic team sprint last summer, then taking individual gold and silver ahead of Britain’s Jack Carlin as Kenny finished eighth.

His struggles continued early in the keirin as he had to come through the first-round repechage, and so on the final day of the Games people went to the velodrome expecting to see Laura win omnium gold while Jason quietly bowed out.

Instead, Laura suffered a dramatic crash to end her medal hopes while Jason turned back the clock to win the most dramatic of his seven Olympic golds.

He stole the limelight from Laura only briefly – by the end of the day she would carry the flag for Britain at the closing ceremony – but that would suit Jason just fine.