Kenny hopes new format can inspire
OLYMPIC champion Jason Kenny hopes the new UCI Champions League can give track cycling a shake-up and introduce a new generation of fans to the sport.
The inaugural season of the new TV-friendly competition that organisers hope can do for track cycling what Twenty20 did for cricket will continue today in Panevezys, Lithuania, before heading to London for two legs next weekend.
Kenny, who became Britain’s most decorated Olympian by winning his seventh gold in Tokyo, will be behind a microphone rather than on a bike as he enjoys a post-Games break, but is looking forward to some firsthand experience of the event.
“It’s definitely got the potential,” Kenny said. “The format makes it easier to watch.
“Track cycling is really good to watch and really contained, but in the past the formats were really fragmented and sort of boring, really.
“You’d break up the really exciting racing with a load of qualifying for the individual pursuit or something and it ruined the flow.
“Here, they’ve taken the best bits and chucked them into a nice condensed program.”
The series sees a total of 72 riders, 18 men and 18 women in
both the sprint and endurance categories – with qualification based on results at the Olympics and world championships – race two events in a schedule packed into a couple of hours.
After the first round in Mallorca at the start of the month, Britain’s Katie Archibald leads the women’s endurance standings thanks to her victory in the elimination race.
And it is no surprise to see Kenny’s familiar foe Harrie
Lavreysen, the Olympic sprint and team sprint champion, top of the men’s sprint standings.
The 33-year-old Kenny opted not to race after his efforts in Japan, where he took a stunning victory in the keirin to move clear of Sir Chris Hoy’s record of six gold medals.
As he weighs up how much longer he might keep racing, Kenny admitted the new competition was the sort of thing that might keep him going.
“I wasn’t sure if I would get an invite,” Kenny said of this year’s edition. “When I did it was tempting to get training and get on it but in reality I don’t think I would have been in any kind of shape having been on holiday.
“I’ve sat this one out but hopefully moving forward in the future we’ll be in a better place.
“I think this can help the health of the sport and I want to be in it for the health of the sport.”