I’ve never thought of missing the Olympics
Laura Kenny broke her shoulder only last month but has amazed the medics with her speed of recovery. She says...
IF Laura Kenny wanted to forget about the injury she was told would rule her out of the tokyo Olympics, her two-year- old son had other ideas.
‘Albie goes to a few clubs and he kept saying, “Mummy bad arm, Mummy bad eye”,’ recalls the fourtime Olympic gold medallist, smiling as she speaks at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.
‘I said: “this is sending out a bad message Albie!”’
Kenny was sporting a black eye at the time following her nasty crash at a world Cup race in Canada last month. She suffered concussion and broke her right shoulder.
A specialist then told Kenny she would not be fit for tokyo in July.
She describes the first week after her fall as a ‘nightmare’, when she was unable even to pick up Albie. her husband Jason — a winner of six Olympic golds himself — had to take over nappy duties.
Despite all this and just four weeks on from the crash, Kenny will be racing for Great Britain again at this week’s world Championships in Berlin.
It is an extraordinary recovery, but also a gamble.
‘Lots of people, even the doctor, thought I had gone crazy putting it on the line at the worlds,’ admits Kenny, who chose not to have surgery on her shoulder.
‘there are obviously risks. My shoulder is a lot weaker now and if I crash I would put myself back a lot, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
‘My scapula is broken, it will never be the same again. the amount of impact needed to break the shoulder is insane. when I went to hospital they asked if I had crashed a motorbike.
‘I don’t remember much after the crash. I don’t know who picked me up from the side of the track.
‘I just remember being in hospital and our doctor telling me to take some paracetamol.
‘I said: “I’ve not got a headache, I need something stronger than that. I’m in so much pain, please can I have some gas and air?” I knew from having Albie that gas and air is wonderful! I just wanted something to get rid of the pain and I needed my skinsuit cut off. It felt horrendous.
‘I went 36 hours without having a shower. I went crash, hospital, airport, home. I felt disgusting.
‘But when I sat on the plane, I thought, “I have to race at the worlds. It’s not going to stop me”.
‘I never thought of missing the Olympics. the only time I was slightly worried was when I sat down with the specialist.
‘he said, “tell me your time frame” and I said, “Four weeks”. he said, “No chance, what’s after that?” and I said, “Six months, the Olympics”.
‘he said even that was off the cards. I said, “You’re having a laugh?” and he was like, “I’m not”.
‘But here I am. I didn’t need an operation and I can ride a bike.’
Kenny admits the last month has been the most challenging of her career. But if Britain’s most successful female Olympian ever is worried about her shoulder injury affecting her performance, she is not letting on.
In Berlin, she will ride in the omnium and probably the scratch race, which is not an Olympic event. She is sitting out the team pursuit and madison.
Given the importance of the world Championships on selection for tokyo, Kenny’s dream of winning gold in three events this summer — team pursuit, omnium and madison — must be in doubt.
But she adds: ‘I’m still going for three medals. I’m not saying it’s been easy to forget about it but I fully believe I can be fine.
‘I have another scan after the worlds to see how it’s feeling. they then give eight weeks for it to be fully healed.
‘I think I’ve shown enough this season. they wouldn’t have selected me for the worlds unless they thought I could produce some sort of result.
‘with the team pursuit, because of how much effort I have to put in off the line, I don’t think I’m good enough to be in the team for now. I don’t want to risk it for the team if I’m not 100 per cent.
‘those four girls are probably better than me at the minute. I like to think I’d bring something if I got selected for the team, but I have to get selected first.’
the four-woman team pursuit starts in Berlin tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how a squad of Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ellie Dickinson, Neah Evans and Josie Knight perform in Kenny’s absence.
Great Britain won silver behind Australia in the event at last year’s world Championships.
‘It’s really unfortunate for Laura, it’s been a massive shame,’ says Barker, who is also riding in the madison with Evans.
‘I think it’s her first injury of any kind. I’d imagine it’s been hard to deal with but you wouldn’t know it when she turns up for training.
‘She is still working hard, being bubbly. I wouldn’t say it’s had a huge impact on the rest of the team.’