(Reuters) – England’s Laura Kenny struck gold in track cycling’s scratch race gold at the Commonwealth Games yesterday, a day after thinking it would be her final competition as she had simply lost motivation.
The 30-year-old, who is Britain’s most successful female Olympian with five golds, secured her first Commonwealth Games title since 2014 after enduring a difficult few months.
Last November she suffered a miscarriage and just weeks later she required surgery following an ectopic pregnancy.
“I said to Jase (her husband Jason Kenny): ‘I think this is going to be my last race’. I’ve lost the spark, training doesn’t come that easy. Every day I’m like ‘here we go again’,” she told the BBC after earning England’s first cycling gold of the Birmingham Games.
“I’ve been through three Olympic cycles now. To keep picking yourself up after this whole year has been a nightmare… I have absolutely just lost motivation.
“Then last night I was messaging my new coach Len and I was like ‘no, I’m not giving up, I have one more roll of the dice — please just help me’. It couldn’t have been better set up if I tried.”
With cycling being staged on the Lee Valley VeloPark track where she made her name at the 2012 London Olympics, Kenny finished ahead of New Zealand’s Michaela Drummond and Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster.
“To cross the line here in London, I could not ask for anything more,” the multiple world champion said. “I can’t believe it.”