Laura: I’ll race in Olympics as a mother
Olympic gold medal cyclist and newlywed Laura Kenny tells Radhika Sanghani about her latest challenge – gearing up for a baby
Laura Kenny, the record-breaking Olympic cyclist, has revealed she intends to compete at Tokyo 2020 after settling into life as a mother. The 24-year-old, who is expecting a baby with her husband, fellow cyclist Jason, said: ‘That’s the end goal’
The first thing Laura Kenny tells me is that she has just thrown up. “It was in the taxi on the way here,” explains the 24-year-old Olympian. “I was like, ‘I’m going to be sick’. The driver didn’t have time to pull over, so I threw up outside the window. He was really understanding, but it was so new to me because it’s the first time I’ve had morning sickness. Last week, I didn’t understand what the fuss was all about.”
Laura Kenny, née Trott, is 24 weeks pregnant with her first child. It comes after a whirlwind year; at Rio 2016, she and husband Jason (then her fiancé) took home five gold medals between them. They married a month later then started trying for a child soon after. In February, they could announce the good news to the world.
“It happened really quickly,” says Laura, looking surprisingly radiant for someone who has only just stopped heaving. “Even though [the conception] seemed like it took a long time. I was always like, come on, is it this month? But it just happened.”
The couple had always planned to have a child after Rio, though it was something they denied publicly during the Olympics. “We didn’t want people waiting for it,” explains Laura. “I’ve always wanted kids and said that would happen so I would have been gutted if it hadn’t. You feel a lot more pressure [to have children] when you get married.”
When I last spoke to Laura, the morning after her record-breaking performance at Rio when she became the first British woman to take home four gold medals, she told me that when she did have kids, she would want to be a stay-at-home mum, so as not to “spread everything way too thin to be on the top of [her] game”.
Yet now that the reality is upon her, she’s had a change of heart, and is set on competing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. “That’s the end goal. I feel like I’ll still have the time to be a mum and then I’ve got a long time afterwards to train. I never wanted it to be all rushed, or have either of them halfheartedly done. I wanted to settle then start training afterwards.”
She is not sure exactly how long she will need off before she starts training – “I’m going to wait and see because it’s different for everyone” – but Laura wants to make sure that she takes it slowly: “Everything’s going to be new to me. I know I want to get into the team pursuit, but anything after that is a bonus. If I’m good enough to compete in the individual one, then I will, but it was never a target.”
Already, she has noticed priorities changing. “Life isn’t about me – it’s about this little one we’ve chosen to bring into the world. For that exact reason, there’s no point me going on the turbo [to keep up her fitness levels whilst pregnant]. It’s about the child I’m trying to grow. I don’t want anything to happen to it.” She refuses to disclose the sex – though the family know and they are being showered with gifts.
At the moment, neither Laura nor Jason, 29, are training. He is taking a six-month sabbatical while he decides whether or not to continue his career in cycling – “he’s really indecisive” – and Laura says she would understand if he chose to quit: “Life as an athlete is hard. It’s stressful. People think he’s gone to three Olympics and won every single one, but it’s not as easy as that. It’s your life.”
Jason has been “really supportive” throughout the pregnancy, taking on the “relaxed” role as an antidote to Laura “googling every symptom”. She adds: “He’s going to be a great dad, he is so caring. He’s doing everything for me, though to be honest, he always did.”
If Jason chooses not to continue his impressive career (he has six gold medals), Britain’s sporting golden couple would be no more, with Laura competing in Tokyo alone. “I’ve never done that,” she cries. “He’s been there every Olympics I’ve been to. It might be weird if I was competing without him.”
She is convinced, however, that he would not give up his career to parent full-time. “That’s not Jason. I wouldn’t want him to either, just because I’ve got aspirations of carrying on. He’d have another job for sure. But that’s why the grannies are helpful.”
Does this mean she is more likely to end up competing in Tokyo than Jason? “I’d say so, for the time being.”
At 24, Laura will be a young mum – six years younger than her own mother, Glenda, was when she had Laura. But she says that has always been important to her. “I like that when the little one’s growing up, we’ll be really active. I had an active childhood and I’d like my child to have that.” It also means that there is more of a chance that she’ll return to peak fitness levels after giving birth. “It should be easier to bounce back,” she laughs. “I’ll let you know next year.”
She has sought advice from Jessica Ennis-Hill, the heptathlete who came back to compete after giving birth to her son Reggie between London 2012 and Rio 2016. And she has spoken to Sarah Storey, who returned to cycling within a year of having a baby. Her coach has also been supportive – something that not every female cyclist can say.
British Cycling is currently facing numerous allegations of sexism from high-profile athletes such as Jess Varnish and Lizzie Armitstead, and a report looking into the allegations is due to be released shortly.
Laura is quick to stress that she has never experienced any sexism herself, but has sympathy for those who have been affected: “I wouldn’t want to be treated the way they have. It’s happened in a system I work in, but as bad as it sounds you don’t know anything’s going on till you read it in the paper. It sounds insane, but you focus on your own goal and don’t look on the outside.”
‘I’m not scared in the slightest. I’ve put myself through hell and back in training’
In the meantime she is spending her days swimming, walking the dogs, visiting her parents’ home in Cheshunt for the first time in two years, and having her first ever pub lunch with Jason (“it sounds so small but it’s massive to us”).
She is not nervous about her comeback: “It was my choice to do this, and it’ll be my choice to try to start again afterwards. It doesn’t scare me at all because [I’ve wanted to be a mum] for a long time.”
Laura’s own birth was mired in difficulties. After she was born prematurely via a caesarean, doctors discovered she had a collapsed lung, and she spent her first six weeks in intensive care. The problems affected her health as a child, but she has no concerns about bringing her own baby into the world. “The midwife’s said everything’s fine.” She’s even hoping to have a drug-free natural birth – though couples pregnancy yoga has been discarded after one session. “I’m not scared in the slightest,” she says. “I’ve put myself through hell and back with training. How hard can it be to give birth?”