Ennis-hill helps Kenny with golden mum advice

Laura Kenny revealed she has been taking tips from Dame Jessica Ennis-hill as she returns to competitive cycling just six months after giving birth.

The four-time Olympic champion is due to make her comeback sooner than expected having been named in the Great Britain squad for the Track Cycling World Championships, which start on 28 February in Apeldoorn, Holland.

With husband and sixtime Olympic champion Jason also in the squad, baby Albie will be travelling too as the couple adjust to juggling parenthood with competition.

And Britain’s most successful female track cyclist has been helped by Ennis-hill, who won her third heptathlon world title in 2015, 13 months after the birth of her son Reggie.

“She’s been there on the end of the phone and that’s been great, to have that kind of support,” Kenny said. “My body has gone through something it has never been through before and you don’t know how you’re going to feel until you go through it.

“To have Jess there, having done it and having been quite open with questions I can ask her, has been really helpful.”

The pair were put in touch by a mutual friend and, since meeting up in Sheffield during Kenny’s pregnancy, they have been in regular contact.

“She’s told me just to take it slowly,” added Kenny. Ennis-hill may have told Kenny to expect things to happen slowly, but she has surprised everyone – including herself – with how quickly her form has returned.

“Initially it seemed quite a slow process, six weeks to get back on a bike,” she said. “But after that it came back pretty quick.”

Kenny must earn selection for the team pursuit – the only event for which she is eligible due to her lack of racing. Scotland’s Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ellie Dickinson, Emily Kay, Emily Nelson and Kenny are in the sixstrong endurance squad but only four will ride.