Laura Trott

Early life

Laura Trott was born a month prematurely in Harlow in Essex with a collapsed lung and was later diagnosed with asthma. She was advised by doctors to take up sport in order to regulate her breathing. She enjoyed and competed in trampolining but had to give up due to respiratory problems. She grew up in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, where she attended Turnford School. Her older sister Emma Trott is a former road racing cyclist.

Together with her sister, she began cycling when her mother did so to lose weight.

Career

She won two junior titles at both the 2009 and 2010 British National Track Championships, and placed third in the individual pursuit at the latter to win a place in the 2010 European Track Championships team pursuit squad aged just 18. After winning gold at the Euros, she went on to take her first world title at the 2011 championships, again as part of the team pursuit squad. In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics she won a further two World and two European golds, in both the team pursuit and the ominum, before securing her place in the Great Britain team as those events made their Olympic debut.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Trott won a gold medal in the team pursuit with Dani King and Joanna Rowsell. The team set a world record time of 3:14.051 in this event. Including pre-Olympics races and the Olympics final itself, in the six times they had ridden together they had broken the world record in every race. She also won gold in the omnium, two days after winning gold in the team pursuit.

For the 2012 road season, Trott joined Team Ibis Cycles, though she competed in only five races. 2013 saw her increase her road racing commitments with new team Wiggle Honda. Her best result was a second place at the British National Road Race Championships, bringing her the under 23 title, though her road racing was intended to function in service of her track preparation, rather than replacing it. Trott took further World and European team pursuit gold medals at the 2013 and 2014 championships, as well as European ominium title and World ominium silver in both those years. After making the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow her focus for this period, she entered the games with a kidney infection and finished well down the field in the scratch race and individual pursuit. Recovering as the Games progressed, she won a gold medal for England, in the points race. On the road she went one better at the national road championships, winning the title for her first senior road race win.

In February 2015, Trott failed to win a title at the World Championships for the first time in her career, finishing second in both the team pursuit and ominium. The result was part of a poor Championships for Britain, with the team finishing without a gold for the first time since 2001. Trott moved to the new Matrix Fitness Vulpine team for 2015 as a lead rider, moving to the team in order to better combine her road and track cycling ambitions. After a road season in which her best result was 3rd in National Championships, Trott returned won three gold medals at the 2015 European Championships, in the team pursuit, scratch race and omnium. She followed this with gold medals in the scratch race and omnium at the 2016 World Championships in London, as well as a bronze in the team pursuit.

At the 2016 Olympics Trott was a favourite for the omnium, and with hopes of a medal in the team pursuit. In the team pursuit, Great Britain took gold setting world records in the qualification and final of the tournament, defeating the American world champions in the final. This made Trott the first British woman to win three golds, though this achievement was matched by Charlotte Dujardin the next day. In the Ominium, Trott dominated from the start and finished in the top two in five of the six events, to take a comfortable gold medal and once again become Britain's most successful female Olympian. Following the end of the track cycling competition at the games, Trott and her fiance Jason Kenny were lauded in the British press as a 'golden couple', having won five gold medals between them in 2016, to reach a total of ten as a couple.

Personal life

Trott married track cyclist Jason Kenny at a private ceremony on 24 September 2016. 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. Their child was born on the 23 August 2017. They named him Albert Louie Kenny. Kenny announced the news with a post on Instagram.

Laura Kenny's parents are Glenda and Adrian Trott, who live in Cheshunt, and she has an older sister Emma, who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Honours and awards

Trott was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours, also for services to cycling. Both Laura and Jason Kenny received their CBEs on Tuesday 25 April 2017 at a Investiture in Buckingham Palace. She also received an Honorary Degree from the University of Essex in 2013.

In 2014, the former Grundy Park Leisure Centre in Cheshunt was renamed The Laura Trott Leisure Centre in her honour following a £4 million redevelopment. Trott attended the launch ahead of competing in stage four of the first Women's Tour from Cheshunt to Welwyn Garden City.

On 8 December 2016 it was announced on TalkSport radio in the UK that Trott (Named as Mrs Kenny by the show, her married name) had been awarded "Female Sports Personality Of The Year" by the Sunday Times Newspaper. Trott (Kenny) went on to say when interviewed by the presenter/DJ that this had been the most incredible year, and felt very honoured and privileged to have received an award which carried such high regard. The award was presented to her by fellow Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill.