How time in the tractor helped Olympian Katy Marchant find a new perspective

By James Reid

Parenthood and driving tractors is giving Katy Marchant the fresh perspective she needs for a tilt at her third Olympic Games.

Marchant will head to Paris as part of Team GB’s first women’s team sprint squad since London 2012 and will also contest the keirin, eight years on from her debut in Rio.

The 31-year-old won bronze in the individual sprint back then but the life of the Leeds native is very different now.

The birth of son Arthur in 2022 means time is in short supply despite the demands of training for the Games but Marchant believes it has given her the ideal balance to head to Paris in the perfect frame of mind for success.

“It has helped me to be in a better place, I have a great perspective on life now that I have a little boy,” she said.

“I definitely don’t care any less but there is something in my life now in Arthur that is the top priority.

“It has allowed me to have that space away and understand that everything in cycling is a bonus. I have been able to give it more. It all just feels more special.

“It is really interesting, I want it more than ever. Now I feel hungrier than ever to go to this Olympics and give it absolutely anything. I also feel like it is all a bonus so I have not got anything to lose, which is a nice position to be in.”

Marchant’s preparations for the Games are very different to most others, with the 31-year-old balancing mum duties with helping out husband Rob on their farm.

The countryside has proved a perfect if unlikely foil for life as an elite athlete, with her time in the fields a way to unwind from the pressures of the track.

She added: “There’s not a lot of spare time, you become more efficient with your time.

“The time I have away from Arthur is really important and the majority of that time is spent training, so I have to make the most of that time that I have to be able to do something for myself.

“It took me a while to learn that that’s okay, as a mum you are allowed to have that thing you do for yourself. He is absolutely fine at home with dad.

“It took me 12 months to work out what that balance was. I seem to have got myself into a really good place now.

“I like to be busy. It is all about balance and happiness. Being on the farm, being outside, being with Arthur is my happy place and that allows me to come into training and give 100% to that.

“Putting a podcast and being on my own or with Arthur in the tractor, I love the outdoors and being outside.

“It is a completely different lifestyle to being an athlete, that’s what helps me keep really balanced and keep my feet on the ground. I come home from training and there is a shift to do on the farm.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world. Some days it all feels like a little too much but I have found the right balance.”

Marchant’s mum duties to do not stop at home, however, with the 31-year-old appointed the mother of the women’s team sprint squad alongside Emma Finucane, 21, and Sophie Capewell, 25.

The Leeds native has seen it all on the track from bronze at Rio 2016 to crashing at Tokyo 2020, and is hoping to use all that experience in Paris as they chase a first-ever women’s team sprint medal for Team GB.

“It's a really great dynamic that we have between the squad,” she added. “Emma is 21, Sophie is somewhere in the middle, I am the mum of the group.

“I try to give them my learning experiences, what I can take away from having been to the Olympics. They keep me young and keep it fresh.

“I was so naïve going into Rio as what the next career for me would look like. I laugh at it now and going into Tokyo I wish I had the naivety that I had going into Rio. I find myself back in that place now which is really nice.

“Having the team around me and not being the sole female sprinter, the weight of the world is not on my shoulders and we are all in this together. We have got each other

“We have been given a golden opportunity here to go put a mark out. We need to try not to use it as pressure but as excitement and I think we all feel really excited to see what we can do.”

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