Britain's most successful Olympian sir Jason Kenny retires from cycling
He's won seven Olympic gold medals in 13 years
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.
He has officially begun working as British Cycling's men's podium sprint coach, overseeing riders who were teammates until his appointment.
Kenny said he had been planning to keep going until the Paris Games in 2024 but the opportunity to coach the British squad was one he couldn't pass up.
He won a keirin gold in Tokyo last summer to claim a seventh Olympic title 13 years after his first in Beijing.
"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 wasn't long in the planning. British Cycling advertised for the role on LinkedIn last month, ironically illustrating the advert with a picture of Kenny. He 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."
"I'm absolutely loving it, so now I'm going to quit!"
Kenny has retired once before, silently stepping away after winning team sprint, individual sprint and keirin gold at the 2016 Rio Games, without announcing his decision until he reversed it a year later.
This time it is more definitive and, Kenny said, much harder.
"Last time I didn't realise it but I was just cooked," he said. "I'd never really taken a break (in 10 years), so I just stepped away. Because I never planned on coming back I completely switched off and got that re-fresh.
"And since I came back into it I've really enjoyed it again. So this time I'm absolutely loving it, so now I'm going to quit!
"In Rio, I was quite happy to see the back of it. But then since coming back and being refreshed it's a lot harder to walk away."
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.
Kenny's new role will involve longer hours and more travel than racing as he will no longer pick and choose competitions and training camps. Though he believes it will also allow him more quality time with his son Albie, who turned four last August.
"Athletes' days off are not really off - you're planning for the next day," he said. "It basically consists of not doing anything too arduous and fuelling right...
"You can't just go and play football with Albie or whatever. Now I think I'll have less time off but I'll be able to enjoy it more."
Kenny has already begun one training course and plans to do more in the coming months - aware that the clock is already ticking towards Paris - and said he had been "floating around" in an unofficial coaching role during recent sessions in Derby.
There may be no substitute for racing, but Kenny hopes coaching will come close.
"I get a buzz off the high-performance process," he said. "Hopefully I'll get that from the coaching side. That's what I really enjoy, to get to the tiniest details and get it to as near as perfect as physically possible."
Kenny's retirement now means his final race as a professional was the show-stopping keirin victory at the Tokyo Games. Having struggled in the individual sprint, Kenny broke clear of his rivals as soon as the derny pulled off and defied all expectations to stay clear for three laps.
"It is (a great way to sign off)," he said. "I'm dead happy with that. It was really special. To do it on that bike, the last day of the Olympics, for me that's a really special moment in time.
"If I could have picked a day to end on, that would be the one."
Team GB's medal winners at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics:
Jason Kenny - Gold
Jason Kenny became the most decorated Olympic cyclist of any nation, with gold in the men's keirin, taking his Olympic total to seven gold and two silver medals
Joe Choong - Gold
Joe Choong won gold in the modern pentathlon
Lauren Price - Gold
Lauren Price won gold in the Women's middleweight boxing
Galal Yafai - Gold
Birmingham's Galal Yafai celebrates after winning gold in the flyweight boxing at the Tokyo Olympics
Kate French - Gold
Team GB's Kate French wins gold in the modern pentathlon
Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald - Gold
Scottish cyclist Katie Archibald has claimed a gold medal winning the women's Madison at Tokyo 2020 alongside Laura Kenny who becomes the first woman in British history to win gold at three consecutive games. It also makes Kenny Team GB's most decorated female athlete, with six medals overall.
Matt Walls - Gold
Matt Walls won a gold in the track cycling, He won the Omnium event
Ben Maher - Gold
Ben Maher took gold on his horse in the Individual jumping
Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre - Gold
Team GB's Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre have won Gold in sailing's 470-class at the Tokyo Olympics.
Sailing - Gold & Silver
Team GB took home two golds and a silver within a few hours in the 3rd August. Giles Scott successfully defended his Gold from Rio in the Finn class, Stuart Bithell and Dylan Fletcher took gold in the 49er class and Anna Burnet and John Gimson took silver in the Nacra
Individual eventing - Silver
On the same day Tom McEwan won gold in team eventing, he also won a silver in the individual event!
Team Eventing - Gold
Laura Collett (pictured), Tom McEwen and Oliver Townend take Gold in the equestrian team eventing.
Charlotte Worthington - Gold
Charlotte Worthington from Chorlton in Manchester won the gold medal in the BMX freestyle in Tokyo - landing a historic trick in the final. She completed 360-degree flip in her second run - the first ever by a woman in competition.
Mixed 4x100 metres medley relay - Gold
Kathleen Dawson. James Guy (pictured), Adam Peaty and Anna Hopkin stormed to victory in the inaugural mixed 4x100 metres medley relay final in a new world record time at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Max Whitlock - Gold
Max Whitlock's successful defence of his Olympic pommel horse title meant he took home the Gold
Mixed Triathlon relay - Gold
Jess Learmonth, Jonathan Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee took Gold in the Mixed Triathlon relay
Bethany Shriever - Gold
Bethany Shriever won Gold as she took the women's BMX racing title for Team GB. This is the first year Team GB has won any medals in the sport since it was introduced to the games in 2008.
Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold
Duncan Scott, Matthew Richards, James Guy and Tom Dean convincingly won the Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay for Team GB.
Tom Pidcock - Gold
Tom Pidcock, from Leeds, won gold in the cross country mountain biking.
Tom Daley & Matty Lee - Gold
Tom Daley, from Plymouth, and Leeds' Matty Lee also added to Team GB's medal count with gold in the ten-metre-synchronised diving, Daley finally winning Olympic gold after two bronze medals.
Tom Dean - Gold
Maidenhead's Tom Dean produced the performance of his life in the final of the men's 200 metres freestyle, clocking a national record time of one minute and 44.22 seconds to pip Tokyo 2020 flatmate Duncan Scott in a historic one-two for Team GB.
Adam Peaty - Gold
The first gold Team GB won was for Adam Peaty, from Uttoxeter, who created history by becoming the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title.
Men's Madison - Silver
Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls take silver in the Men's Madison
Men's 4x100m relay - Silver
There was only a hundredth of a second separating Team GB and the Gold medal, which went to Italy. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty, Chijindu Ujah, Zharnel Hughes were in the team in the final. This medal could be set to be lost though as CJ Ujah's sample was found to have a banned substance in it, which could mean disqualification for Team GB.
Keely Hodkinson - Silver
Wigan's Keely Hodgkinson claimed a stunning 800 metres silver medal at the Olympics as the rising star smashed Kelly Holmes' British record. The 19-year-old clocked one minute 55.88 seconds to finish behind winner Athing Mu of the USA in Tokyo.
Ben Whittaker - Silver
Team GB's Benjamin Whittaker has won Silver in boxing's light heavyweight division at the Tokyo Olympics.
Men's Team Sprint - Silver
Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens took Silver in the Men's team sprint. It leaves Jason Kenny as the most decorated British Olympian of all time alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins.
Pat McCormack - Silver
Pat McCormack took Silver in the men's welterweight boxing
Team pursuit - Silver
Team GB broke a world record to get to the final of the women's team pursuit but couldn't quite beat the German team, who also broke the world record again 10 minutes after the Brits.
Weightlifting - Silver
Emily Campbell is the first British female weightlifter to win an Olympic medal - she got a silver in the women's +87 kg event.
Men's 4 × 100 m medley relay - Silver
Luke Greenbank, James Guy, Duncan Scott, Adam Peaty won Silver in the men's 4x100m medley relay. It made Duncan Scott has become one of Britain's most successful Olympians of all time taking four medals at a single Olympic Games.
Swimming 200m Individual Medley - Silver
Duncan Scott won his third medal of the Olympics in the 200m Individual Medley, taking Silver.
BMX Racing - Silver
Kye Whyte from London made BMX history for Great Britain on Friday morning as he won our first-ever medal in the BMX events. Moments after he won Silver, Beth Shriever took gold in her BMX race event
Georgia Taylor-Brown - Silver
Manchester's Georgia Taylor-Brown overcame a puncture to win silver for Great Britain in a wet women's triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Taylor-Brown went into the race as the reigning world champion and one of the favourites for the title but had to play catch-up on the 10 kilometres run after getting a flat tyre on the last lap of the bike leg.
Men's Quadruple Sculls Team - Silver
Harry Leask, Angus Groom, Tom Barras and Jack Beaumont celebrate Team GB's first rowing medal at Tokyo 2020. They won silver in the Men's Quadruple Sculls.
Mallory Franklin - Silver
Windsor canoeist Mallory Franklin won Team GB's 18th medal after taking silver in the women's single slalom, also known as the women's C1 event
Lauren WIlliams - Silver
Lauren Williams, from Blackwood in Wales, won Silver in Taekwondo at Tokyo 2020.
Bradley Sinden - Silver
Bradley Sinden, from Doncaster, won Silver for his Taekwondo performance at Tokyo 2020.
Duncan Scott - Silver
Duncan Scott became Scotland's first medallist as he got the silver in the men's 200 metres freestyle narrowly missing out to teammate Tom Dean for the gold
Alex Yee - Silver
Lewisham's Alex Lee won silver in triathlon at Tokyo 2020
Josh Kerr - Bronze
Josh Kerr took home bronze in the men's 1500 metres
Tom Daley - Bronze
Tom Daley diving in the final of the 10m platform at the Tokyo Olympics. The 27-year-old from Plymouth won the bronze.
Women's 4 × 100 metres relay - Bronze
Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita took bronze in the women's 4 × 100 metres relay
Jack Carlin - Bronze
Jack Carlin took Bronze in the Men's cycling sprint
Holly Bradshaw - Bronze
A Bronze medal for Holly Bradshaw in the Pole Vault
Women's Hockey - Bronze
Team GB's Hockey team took the Bronze
Sky Brown - Bronze
13-year-old Sky Brown won Bronze for Team GB in the skateboarding park event.
Liam Heath - Bronze
Team GB's Liam Heath has won Bronze in the final of the men's 200m kayak.
Jack Laugher - Bronze
Jack Laugher, gold and silver medallist in Rio took home the bronze in Tokyo after coming third in the men's 3m springboard diving.
Declan Brooks - Bronze
Declan Brooks won a bronze in the BMX freestyling
Frazer Clarke - Bronze
Team GB's Frazer Clarke celebrates after winning bronze in the Men's Super Heavy (+91kg) boxing.
Karriss Artingstall - Bronze
Karriss Artingstall won Bronze in the women's featherweight boxing
Emma Wilson - Bronze
Emma Wilson took Bronze in the Sailing in the women's RS:X
Mens Eight Rowing - Bronze
Great Britain won the bronze medal in the men's eight final at the Tokyo Olympics. The crew made up of Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Oliver Wynne-Griffith,Tom George, Mohamed Sbihi, Charles Elwes, James Rudkin and Tom Ford came third, behind gold medallists New Zealand, with Germany taking second.
200m Backstroke - Bronze
Luke Greenbank won bronze for Team GB in the Mens 200m Backstroke finals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Bryony Page - Bronze
Team GB's Bryony Page came third in the final of the women's trampolining. She won Bronze.
Matthew Coward-Holley - Bronze
Matthew Coward-Holley from Chelmsford won a Bronze for Team GB in the Men's trap shooting.
Charlotte Dujardin - bronze
By taking bronze in the individual dressage event Charlotte Dujardin has become Britain's most successful female Olympian. She now has six Olympic medals across three games
Dressage team - bronze
Charlotte Dujardin from Leighton Buzzard has claimed her 5th Olympic Medal today. She earned a bronze in the team final alongside Carl Hester from Guernsey and Charlotte Fry.
Women’s team gymnastics - bronze
Great Britain claimed the first women's team gymnastics medal since 1928 as they delivered an extraordinary bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
The team included Slough gymnast 18-year-old Amelie Morgan, 16-year-old twins Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova, from Aylesbury and Alice Kinsella who was born in Essex but lives in Birmingham.
Bianca Walkden - Bronze
Bianca Walkden from Liverpool claimed a bronze in Taekwondo at Tokyo 2020
Chelsee Giles - Bronze
Chelsee Giles, from Coventry, won Team GB's first medal for Judo. She won Bronze.
Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.