Jason Kenny was unstoppable at Rio 2016 but the six-time Olympic champion admits he isn’t sure yet if he will strut his stuff at next year’s World Championships.
Kenny won three gold medals at Rio 2016, kicking things off with success in the team sprint before beating team-mate Callum Skinner to pick up the individual crown and rounding things off with glory in the keirin.
This means Kenny now has seven Olympic medals to his name, six of which are gold, which means he is tied as holder of the most titles for a Brit alongside former team-mate Sir Chris Hoy.
The major difference between the pair is that at 28 Kenny is the same age Hoy was when he won his first Olympic gold, meaning there could be plenty more to come from the young pretender to the throne.
The next major challenge takes place in April, in Hong Kong, with the 2017 World Track Championships, but Kenny insists he is in no hurry to map out his future.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” he said. “We are enjoying it as much as possible, it’s not something that happens every day. We went on Jonathan Ross and got to meet some pretty mega people, we got lucky.
“Next potentially is the World Championships but I’m pretty relaxed at the moment. I won’t go back to training until I feel like going back to training.
“There’s no point. Until you want it there’s no point forcing yourself to go back.
“I think it’s important that we take a good break, recharge our batteries, try other things and come back to it when we want to.”
Kenny was speaking ahead of the first round of this year’s Revolution Series in Manchester on Saturday, now in its 14th season and having undergone a whole host of exciting changes to make it bigger and better than ever – most notably the creation of new Champions League and Elite Women’s Championship competitions.
And while he might be sitting pretty at the top of the cycling world, Kenny can still remember where it all began – the Revolution Series.
“The Revolution Series has been really important to me personally and for a while I had actually taken part in every one as I rode the very first edition,” he added.
“So it has been really important to me in getting where I am today and I know the Revolution Series has done the same for a great deal more riders too.
“It is really important to a young rider in particular and really useful in getting in front of a crowd and getting that race experience.
“It is now in its 14th year and it is great to see the Revolution Series keep getting bigger and bigger.
“The Champions League aspect of it this year I think will be very important as it allows riders from Great Britain to go up against the best in the world.
“They might not be at their peak so it is a chance to go toe-to-toe with the best and you might get one over them so it is great to be a part of and it could be a great confidence boost.”
See Team GB’s Olympic heroes go head-to-head in the Revolution Track Cycling Series, Manchester, 17 September. Secure your seat at www.sky.com/tickets
Image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks.
