Dame Laura Kenny - Great Britain's most successful female Olympian of all time - has remained tight-lipped about the prospect of competing at the Paris 2024 Games.
The 30-year-old already has five gold medals and one silver to her name from the Olympics, making her the most successful female cyclist in the history of the modern Games.
Kenny and close friend Katie Archibald stormed to the Olympic title in the women's madison at the Tokyo 2020 Games, also claiming second place in the team pursuit event.
Speaking exclusively to Sports Mole in partnership with the Dried Fruit Alliance (DFA), Kenny - who also plans to compete at the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow next year - insisted that she will not be given a golden ticket to compete at the Games.
"It's difficult, because everyone thinks you've done one Olympics so you'll automatically go to the next one if you're still riding, but that's not the case," Kenny said.
"Not only do we have to go through two-year qualification, I also have to go through the selection criteria. I have to be performing enough to get into the GB team. I'm just going through the process at the minute."
© Reuters
After scooping a pair of gold medals in the omnium and team pursuit events at London 2012, Kenny defended her titles at Rio in 2016 before becoming the first-ever British woman to win Olympic titles at three successive Games in Tokyo.
The Essex-born rider, whose husband Jason Kenny holds the honour of being GB's most successful Olympian of all time, has also clinched seven World Championship golds and 14 European titles during her illustrious career on the track.
Kenny gave birth to son Albie in 2017, and the 30-year-old credits her family as her primary motivation to continue competing at the highest level, having been forced to sacrifice time with loved ones for continental and international success.
"My family is a huge motivation, especially Albie. I really wanted to prove to myself that you can do both. Not have everything, I hate that concept! But I always wanted to be a young mum, and I always knew that if that was going to be the case, I was going to have to pause my career at some point, and I was going to need the support of Jason and my family," Kenny added.
"There is no way I could travel alone I needed someone to look after him. Once he came, I had such a determination to prove that you can be a mum and win. You can get back to that level that you left it at.
"Obviously at Rio I'd left it at gold, but I wouldn't have been completely satisfied if I hadn't gone to Tokyo and won, so it was just proving to myself that you could do it, and Albie was my motivation the whole time for that.
© DFA/Laura Kenny
"Every time I go out, I'm leaving Albie, I was sacrificing time with my little baby, so it was making sure that all those sacrifices were worth it. Every time I went out I gave absolutely 100% because I didn't want it to be for nothing.
"He literally came everywhere with us, it wasn't like we had a nanny at home, I had to do all the night feeding! For three years there were sacrifices that we made along the way and I didn't want it to be for no point."
Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny boast an astounding 15 Olympic medals between them, with the latter holding seven golds and two silvers from the Games, and Laura has affirmed that there is no friendly rivalry between the pair.
"Not really no! I think I feel more than he does a lot of the time, so I feel his joy or his sadness. When Jason does the interviews he's like 'it's just a bike race', whereas I know what he's like because we spend every single day together," Kenny added.
"When he doesn't win, I can tell even before he's come off the bike that he's upset or feels gutted, or he just wishes he did something differently. We care so much about each other's performance that I don't think you can really have a rivalry!"
Following her success in Tokyo, Kenny won gold in the women's scratch race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but she has admitted that she 'just wanted to go home' amid a confidence crisis before finishing atop the podium.
Dame Laura Kenny is taking part in the #TwoBeforeTenChallenge to raise awareness of the health benefits of dried fruit. 95% of us are not getting our five a day, the research also shows that if you start the day the right way – with a breakfast containing two of your five a day – then you are statistically more likely to hit your recommended daily intake. For more information on the campaign head to the @EatMoreDriedFruit Instagram page.
