British cycling legend Laura Kenny announces retirement

Laura Kenny, five-time Olympic champion, announced Monday that she is retiring from professional cycling.

Kenny, Britain's most decorated Olympian, won titles at the London, Rio and Tokyo Games and also won seven World Championship crowns.

Kenny, 31, gave birth to her second child in July 2023 after suffering a miscarriage in 2021 and requiring surgery following an ectopic pregnancy. She gave birth to her first child in 2017.

“After much thought and consideration, I have decided to retire from professional cycling,” Kenny told BBC Breakfast. “I had a really good time, but now it’s time for me to hang up this bike.

“The sacrifices of leaving kids and family at home are really, really big and it's a really big decision to make. Increasingly, I was having a hard time doing it. People were asking me what races I was doing, what training camps were happening. I kept going, I didn't want to go in the end and that's what it came down to.”

Kenny said in November that she had her sights set on making the team for the Paris Olympics.

She said she still hoped to be involved “in some capacity” at the Games this summer.

Kenny is married to track cyclist Jason Kenny, now retired, Britain's most decorated Olympian with seven gold medals.

Reuters contributed to this report.