Laura Kenny

Laura Kenny, née Trott, who was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to cycling in the New Year Honours List for 2022, has the distinction of being the most successful British woman in Olympic history. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, won her fifth Olympic gold medal, alongside Katie Archibald, in the inaugural madison event, having already won a silver medal in the team pursuit, alongside Archibald, Neah Evans and Josie Knight.

In so doing, Kenny also became the first British woman to win gold medals at three Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, her first Olympic Games, Kenny won gold medals in the omnium – in which she was already the World and European champion – and in the team pursuit, alongside Dani Rowe and Joanna Rowsell, setting a new world record in the process. Four years later, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she successfully defended both titles, although with Elinor Barker replacing Dani Rowe in the team pursuit. Once again, Team GB set a new world record in the final of the team pursuit.

Away from the Olympics, Kenny has also won seven gold medals at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships. Between 2011 and 2014, with various partners, she won gold in the team pursuit four years running and, in individual events, gold in the omnium in Melbourne in 2012 and gold in both the scratch race and omnium in London in 2016.

More recently, Kenny, 30, was named in the 35-strong Team England squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the track cycling events of which will take place at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London in late July and early August. So far, she has just one Commonwealth gold medal to her name, having recovered from a kidney infection to win the points race in Glasgow in 2014.