Jason Kenny Biography

Cyclist Jason Kenny has won six Olympic gold medals, tying him for the all-time lead among British athletes. He has won medals at three different Olympic games.

Jason Kenny grew up in Bolton in northern England, and began riding as a boy after a chance visit to the National Cycling Center in Manchester. As a teen he began competing in the Future Stars series, eventually winning titles at the world junior championships. He made Britain’s 2008 Olympic squad as a sprinter, winning silver in individual sprint and gold in the team sprint.

One of his teammates in the team sprint was cycling legend Chris Hoy, the other Briton to have won six Olympic gold medals. Kenny then cemented his reputation by beating Hoy to win gold in the individual sprint at the 2011 World Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he won gold in both sprint and team sprint, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero he won gold three times, in sprint, team sprint and the high-speed sprint known as Keirin.

Kenny has been called “the quiet man of Team GB” by The Guardian, but his track exploits have made him a national sporting hero in the United Kingdom; he was given the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. He became engaged to fellow British cyclist Laura Trott in 2015; she is herself a four-time Olympic gold medal winner, giving the couple 10 golds between them.