Jason Kenny

Early life

Kenny was born on 23 March 1988. He has an elder brother, Craig. He was educated at Mount St Joseph School in Farnworth. In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games Kenny visited the school and praised the support he had received from his PE teachers.

Future Stars series

Kenny's first taste of major track competition came when he competed in the Future Stars series, a junior competition held as part of the Revolution series at the Manchester Velodrome. Kenny competed in a number of the ad-hoc events during the first season of the Revolution in 2003/2004. In the second season, he competed in the first fully fledged Future Series competition, taking part in a number of sprint and endurance events for 15- and 16-year-olds, during the season of 4 track meetings. The series gives youngsters the chance to compete in front of a crowd from an early age, it is noted for showcasing the majority of Britain's young talent. When the 2004/2005 season finished in February 2005, the 16-year-old Kenny finished in the top 10 in the final standings.

2005–2007

During the 2005/2006 racing season, Kenny went on to compete for Great Britain at a junior level as a sprinter and won world titles at the junior world championships. In the 2006/2007 season, he competed at a senior level for the team and took part in a number of World Cup Classics events across the world and Revolution events in Manchester, pitting himself against some of the world's best Sprint riders. In the Revolution events in the 2007/2008 season, Kenny beat some of the world's best sprinters, including reigning world champion Theo Bos.

2008

Kenny made his debut in the world championships in 2008, finishing fifth overall in the sprint competition. In the Olympic Games, he made the team sprint squad, replacing Ross Edgar at man 2 in the team just before the Games. The team defeated the French team that had beaten them to the world title in Manchester only months earlier by over half a second. In the sprint competition, Kenny reached the final, but was defeated by his teammate Chris Hoy 2–0. His rise as a cyclist has been rapid. He progressed from competing in a domestic junior series to Olympic Champion in only 3 and a half years.

Kenny was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

2012 Olympics

At the London 2012 Olympic Games Kenny won gold in the team sprint with Chris Hoy and Philip Hindes, setting a new world record in the London Velopark with a time of 42.6 seconds. He also won gold in the men's sprint final, setting a new Olympic Record in qualifying and avenging his previous losses to Baugé with a 200m time of 10.308s in his final lap. Kenny was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

2013–2014

Following the 2012 Olympics Kenny competed at the 2013 World Championships, he failed to backup his Olympic sprint and Team Sprint titles, finishing 7th and 6th respectively, however he did win the Keirin event.

His 2013–14 season started with national titles in all three Olympic sprint, team sprint and the keirin. At the first round of the UCI Track World Cup he failed to qualify for the sprint event, whilst finishing 4th in the Keirin and winning a bronze medal in the Team Sprint. At the second round of the world cup he secured silver medals in the Sprint and Team Sprint, but did not contest the Keirin. The World Cup/Championships season finished with the UCI World Championships where he failed to secure any medals, finishing 5th in all three events he contested.

At the Commonwealth Games he won a Silver medal in the Team Sprint. In the Sprint event he qualified 11th out of 12 qualifiers, and went on to lose his first round against Eddie Dawkins of New Zealand. This left him in the repechage where he beat his Great Britain teammates Callum Skinner and Lewis Oliva to make it to the 1/8 finals. Despite his poor form in the early rounds he 1/8 he beat Matthew Glaetzer, the fastest qualifier (qualifying almost half a second quicker) and holder of the Commonwealth Record, in two straight rides, to secure his way into the semi-finals where he beat Peter Lewis after three rides. In the final he won a silver medal, losing 2–1 to Sam Webster.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Kenny won gold in the men's team sprint with Philip Hindes and Callum Skinner. He won gold in the men's individual sprint, beating Callum Skinner in the final. On 16 August Kenny won the gold medal in the final of the men's Keirin, to join Chris Hoy as the holder of 6 Olympic Gold Medals, more than any other GB athlete.

Kenny was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

Personal life

In September 2016, Kenny married fellow track cyclist Laura Trott. As of 2016, the couple live near Knutsford in Cheshire. On 14 February 2017, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child.

Kenny's parents are Lorraine and Micheal Kenny, who live in Bolton, and he has an older brother Craig, who lives in neighbouring Manchester.

Like former team-mate Chris Hoy, Kenny has tried his hand at motor racing in a Radical SR3, having finished on the podium at a round of the Radical European Masters at the Nürburgring in 2014.

Major results

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