Motivation still strong in GB star Kenny

Fatherhood has not dented Jason Kenny’s motivation – even if it has resulted in a few more sleepless nights – as he prepares to step up his comeback at the European Championships.

Kenny and wife Laura will take to the track at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow this week after becoming first-time parents following the birth of son Albie almost a year ago.

Britain’s joint most-successful Olympian had initially made the private decision to retire after a golden Rio 2016 Games, but he changed his mind and made his competitive return in January.

And while the 30-year-old has had to adapt elements of his training and recovery since becoming a father, Kenny insists the fire is still burning strong for more medal success.

“I’m still as motivated,” said the six-time Olympic gold medallist. “The thing is, I have to relax a bit more because I might be tired and it’s not my own doing.

“In the past you might be tired because you’ve had a few beers on a Saturday night, whereas now we’re tired all the time and it’s not really our fault.

“It’s just one of those things when you’ve got a little one. Some days you just have to accept that you’re not going to recover from training as you’d like to.

“Like I say, you have to adapt your training accordingly. It’s amazing how much you can get away with. I never would’ve said before that you could train to the same level with such a massive distraction, something that’s so much more important than cycling in your life.

“It seems to me that you can so far, we seem to have gone alright on the back of it. And we’ll see now if we can turn some decent training into some results.”

Kenny, who won a silver medal at the World Championships earlier this year, is level with former Team GB team-mate Sir Chris Hoy on the most number of gold medals won by a Briton at the Olympics.

Two more medals of any colour would make him Great Britain’s most decorated Olympian of all time, moving him ahead of Sir Bradley Wiggins, but Kenny is not getting ahead of himself.

“It’s important to get a good start, good result here to springboard our Olympic qualification and set that into motion, so that’s our target here, which is mainly the team sprint,” he said.

“Once we hopefully tick that box and then go from there. The team sprint is our ticket to the Olympics, that’s the most sensible way for us to try and qualify, it always has been.

“It’s always worked in the past for us to focus on that mainly, so for myself that is still the main focus to make sure that I’m in that team as much as possible, and that it’s rightly sharp.

“For now, it’s about qualifying, just about getting there, and a lot can happen in two years. A lot has happened in the last few years. I’ll just keep moving forwards and trying to get better and see what happens really.

“If I make it to Tokyo and I ride one race I wouldn’t be disappointed with that, even if I don’t make it I can’t be disappointed – I’ve been to three now and done everything I wanted to, and now I can just relax and enjoy, and see what we get out of it.”

See the stars of British Cycling #BackToTheTrack at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark at the 2018 TISSOT UCI Track Cycling World Cup series between December 14 and 16. For tickets and more information visit www.trackworldcup.co.uk