Britain’s greatest Olympian Sir Jason Kenny admitted to being “a little bit sad” but excited as he announced his retirement from racing in order to move into coaching.
The 33-year-old has this week formally begun work as British Cycling’s men’s podium sprint coach, overseeing riders who were team-mates until his appointment.
Kenny, who won a stunning keirin gold in Tokyo last summer to claim a seventh Olympic title 13 years after his first in Beijing, had been planning to keep going until the Paris Games in 2024 but said the opportunity to coach the British squad was one he could not pass up.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” said Kenny, who was knighted in the New Year Honours List. “I genuinely wanted to carry on to Paris, but I creak quite a lot these days and I always knew I wanted to go into coaching off the back of it, and this opportunity came along.
“I am a little bit sad to be honest because all I’ve known is riding and competing, but I’m quite excited to get stuck into the job.”
The move was not long in the planning. British Cycling advertised for the role on LinkedIn last month, ironically illustrating the advert with a picture of Kenny, who chose to put in what he called a “speculative” application a day before the deadline without discussing it with senior coaches first.
“The job ad came up and I ummed and ahed a bit,” added Kenny. “I was full-time training at the time, but I’ve started to ache a lot more these days.
“I thought, I don’t even know if I’m going to make it to Paris, so I could commit for three years and get nothing out of it.
“This opportunity might not come here again. If they got a good coach they could be in the role for potentially 10 years, so I thought I’d go for it now…I think if I hadn’t got the job I would have carried on (racing) in all likelihood.”
Kenny said the decision had been taken jointly with his wife Laura, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, who won her fifth gold with victory in the Madison alongside Katie Archibald last summer.
He replaces Scott Pollock, who had served as sprint coach in an interim role following the dismissal of Kevin Stewart in November 2020.
Sir Chris Hoy, who won team sprint gold alongside Kenny in Beijing, has backed his former team-mate to be a success in his new coaching role.
"I was really excited to hear that Jason has been appointed as the men’s sprint coach," Hoy said.
"He was a fantastic team-mate, 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."
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.
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 in London before completing a clean sweep with gold in the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin at the 2016 Rio Games.
His keirin gold in Tokyo 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.
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