Jason Kenny

Early life Kenny was born on 23 March 1988. Kenny's parents are Lorraine and Michael Kenny, and he has an older brother, Craig. He was educated at Mount St Joseph School in Farnworth.

He was a keen sportsperson during his youth, showing ability as a football goalkeeper as well as playing cricket and tennis, but having learned to ride a bicycle at a young age, became involved in track racing when he and his brother attended a track session at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, when an uncle had booked a session and had some spare places.

2009–2012 In the season following the 2008 Games, Kenny scored three gold medals in the 2008–09 Track Cycling World Cup Classics, and took a silver in the team sprint at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships alongside Jamie Staff and Matthew Crampton, losing out to France. In 2010 he took his first title at the European Track Championships, winning the gold in the keirin. At the 2012 World Championships, Kenny took a silver in the sprint behind Grégory Baugé and a bronze in the keirin. 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.

2013–2016 Following the 2012 Olympics Kenny competed at the 2013 World Championships, in the individual sprint and Team Sprint races he finished 7th and 6th respectively. He won 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, in the 1/8 round 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.

In the 2014–15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Kenny took a gold in the team sprint in the round in Guadalajara. 2015 brought national titles in the 1 km time trial and the team sprint. In the run up to the Rio Olympics, he was part of the squad that won gold in the Hong Kong round of the 2015–16 Track World Cup alongside Hindes and Skinner and went on to win the gold in the sprint at the 2016 Track World Championships in London, defeating Matthew Glaetzer 2–1 in the final. The trio broke the world record twice in the Olympic competition, first in qualifying and again in the final against New Zealand, after the latter had set a new world record themselves in the first round. after losing just one ride, to eventual bronze medallist Denis Dmitriev in the semi-finals.

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

2017–2020 Following the Rio Games, Kenny made an unannounced retirement from competition, later stating that this was due to the physical and mental toll of cycle racing. However, after a year away from the track and the birth of his first child he decided to return to racing, stating in an interview in September 2017 that the break had "refreshed" him. Kenny made his comeback at a round of the Revolution series at Manchester Velodrome in January 2018, setting the fastest time in sprint qualifying ahead of a field that included rival Grégory Baugé and placing second in the sprint and keirin competitions. He returned to international championship competition at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, where he was part of the silver medal-winning squad in the team sprint alongside Hindes, Jack Carlin, Ryan Owens and Joseph Truman, earning Team GB's first team sprint medal at the World Championships since 2011. Kenny, Carlin and Owens went on to earn two further team sprint silvers at the 2019 UEC European Track Championships, also held in Apeldoorn, and the 2020 World Championships on Berlin. In the sprint, he placed eighth in qualifying, and his bid to defend his title received a setback when he lost in the 1/8 finals to Denis Dmitriev: although he was able to secure a slot in the quarter finals by winning the repechage, he was knocked out in the last eight by Harrie Lavreysen, losing 2–0 to the Dutchman before finishing last in the small final, securing eighth place overall. In the keirin, Kenny took the gold medal after going on the attack when the derny pulled off the track with three laps to go, building on a gap that had already appeared between himself and the rest of the field led by Matthew Glaetzer and holding on to the lead to cross the finish line with a gap of over three quarters of a second over the second placed Azizulhasni Awang. The win gave him his seventh gold medal and ninth medal overall, making him the British Olympian with most golds and most medals.

Kenny was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to cycling, and therefore granted the title sir. His wife Laura was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the same list, also for services to cycling. In February of that year, Kenny announced that he was retiring from competition in order to take the role of men's podium sprint coach with British Cycling.

Personal life On 24 September 2016, Kenny married the 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; their son Albie was born on 23 August 2017. In November 2021, his wife suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks, and in January 2022, his wife suffered an ectopic pregnancy. In January 2023, it was announced that they were expecting their second child. Their second son was born in July 2023. In December 2024, a third pregnancy was announced, and his wife gave birth to a daughter in May 2025.

Kenny is a motorsport enthusiast and has participated in car racing in his spare time, including racing a Ginetta G40, and scored a podium finish in a round of the Radical European Masters at the Nürburgring in 2014.

Major results Source:

2005

2006 UCI Track World Cup

UCI Junior Track World Championships

2007 UEC European Under–23 Track Championships

2008 Olympic Games

UCI Track World Cup

2009 UCI Track World Cup

UEC European Under–23 Track Championships

2010 UEC European Track Championships

2011 UCI Track World Championships

UCI Track World Cup Classics

2012 Olympic Games

UCI Track World Championships

UCI Track World Cup

2013

National Track Championships

UEC European Track Championships

UCI Track World Cup

2014

Commonwealth Games

UCI Track World Cup

2015 National Track Championships

2016 Olympic Games

UCI Track World Cup

2018

2019

2020

2021 Olympic Games