'I want to target three golds at Tokyo' – Britain's greatest female Olympian Laura Kenny still hungry for more

For anyone who has ever taken even a passing interest in Laura Kenny’s career, it will come as no surprise to learn that motherhood has failed to slow her down one bit.

British cycling’s very own pocket rocket, Kenny’s appetite for success has always been in inverse proportion to her diminutive frame. She was a serial winner before giving birth to son Albie last year. Indeed, Kenny is famously Britain’s most successful female Olympian, with four gold medals from four events spread across two Games.

Now, though, having made a successful return to competition this year, the 26-year-old is planning something even more audacious.

“If you were to ask me 'What is your dream?' I would say to do all three,” Kenny replies without hesitation when asked what events she is targeting at Tokyo 2020.

It is quite a statement. Kenny previously had the opportunity to win just two medals per Games, with one of Britain’s pursuit team allowed to double up in the omnium. Kenny was the chosen one at London 2012 and again in Rio. And she did not let the Team GB selectors down on either occasion.

Now, though, with the Madison – one of track cycling's most spectacular disciplines, which sees two riders hand-sling each other around the track for lap after lap – returning to the women's Olympic programme in Tokyo, there is the possibility that endurance riders might enter three events.

Kenny is keen to try. “I mean, it’s not as simple as that obviously,” she adds, quickly. “I have to get selected first.”

That will not be easy given the quality in British women’s endurance right now. Katie Archibald, Kenny’s fellow Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit, was world omnium champion in 2017 and world Madison champion this year. She will also want to take on as many events as possible. Then there’s Emily Nelson, Archibald’s Madison partner at the worlds in Apeldoorn in March. And not forgetting Elinor Barker, another of GB’s gold medal-winning pursuiters from Rio, who won world points race gold last year and would have partnered Archibald in the Madison this year but for a crash in her omnium the day before.

The competition, Kenny admits, is “fiercer than ever”.

“It’s difficult because they’re your team-mates,” she says. “But they want the same thing. Katie and Elinor and all the girls who do team pursuit. They all want to do multiple events. So yeah, it's just about being the best I can be and then we'll see what happens. If I win, I win. If I don't at least I gave it my best shot.”

It would take a brave person to bet against Kenny. The manner in which she returned to elite level competition this year, winning world silver as part of the Great Britain pursuit team in Apeldoorn less than six months after giving birth, showed the strength of her desire to return, even if she now says she was “nowhere near ready” for those championships.

And you sense that she is motivated to show what mums in sport can do. “I was lucky in the fact that Jess Ennis-Hill did it before me, and I was able to pick her brains about how it worked,” she says. “But yeah, I guess it's important to have role models. We've had Dame Sarah Storey. And Lizzie [Deignan] is also going through it now.”

Kenny even says she would consider trying for another baby after Tokyo and doing the same again for Paris 2024. “I mean, I’ll have to see how successful I am this time around!” she adds quickly. “It’s not as easy as that is it?”

If anyone can, Kenny probably can. She looks as if she is beginning to build up a head of steam now. Not only was she part of the Great Britain team who won world pursuit gold at the recent round of the Track World Cup in Canada, she also won her first omnium event since becoming a mum.

That win was significant primarily because the World Cup series – of which Britain has a round in London next month – carries Olympic qualification points. Also because it was her first go at the new-look omnium, which has been reduced from six events to four since she last rode it. Kenny is not a fan of the new ‘tempo’ race, describing it as “far too complicated” for riders and spectators alike.

But she was happy with her form in Canada. And with the opportunity to find out a bit more about the young riders coming through.

“There are a lot of fresh faces,” she admits. “Like the girl from Mexico [Lizbeth Salazar, who came second]. I’d never raced her before. To be honest, I’d never even heard of her before! It made me feel pretty old.”

She laughs. “I guess I have been around for a while now. But I’m only 26! I’m not that old, am I?”