Jason Kenny

Jason Kenny

Kenny at Our Greatest Team Parade in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Jason Francis Kenny
Nickname	The Farnworth Flame
Born	(1988-03-23) 23 March 1988 Farnworth, Greater Manchester, England
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (180 lb; 13 st)[1]
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team(s)
2008–2013	Team Sky+ HD
Medal record Representing  Great Britain Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 6 1 0 European Championships 1 1 3 World Championships 3 3 2 Commonwealth Games 0 2 0 Total 10 7 5 Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Team sprint 2012 London Team sprint 2012 London Individual sprint 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team sprint 2016 Rio de Janeiro Individual sprint 2016 Rio de Janeiro Keirin 2008 Beijing Individual sprint World Championships 2011 Apeldoorn Sprint 2013 Minsk Keirin 2016 London Sprint 2009 Pruszków Team Sprint 2011 Apeldoorn Team sprint 2012 Melbourne Sprint 2010 Ballerup Team sprint 2012 Melbourne Keirin European Championships 2010 Pruszków Keirin 2013 Apeldoorn Keirin 2010 Pruszków Sprint 2010 Pruszków Team sprint 2013 Apeldoorn Sprint Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Team sprint 2014 Glasgow Sprint
Infobox last updated on 15 August 2016

Jason Francis Kenny, OBE (born 23 March 1988) is an English track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. After winning multiple World and European Junior titles in 2006 and achieving medals in the under 23 European championships in 2007, Kenny was selected ahead of Ross Edgar to compete for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[2] Along with Chris Hoy and Jamie Staff, he won a gold medal in the team sprint, breaking the world record in the qualifying round.^[3] He finished behind team-mate Chris Hoy in the final of the individual sprint, gaining a silver medal.

In January 2012, he gained his first world championship title, after Grégory Baugé's results were nullified after a backdated 12-month ban for missing a drugs test, and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) promoted Kenny to the gold medal.^[4][5] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won gold medals in both the team sprint and in the individual sprint, beating Baugé in the final. At the 2016 Summer Olympics Kenny repeated his 2012 wins in the Team Sprint and the Individual Sprint, and also won a Gold Medal the Keirin,

Kenny is the joint holder of the highest number of Olympic Golds for a British athlete (6) alongside fellow track cyclist Chris Hoy. Kenny's six Olympic gold medals place him the joint 27th in terms of gold medals won in the modern Summer Olympic games since 1896 with only Michael Phelps (23) and Usain Bolt (9) winning more since the Games of the new millennium in 2000.

Early life

Kenny was born on 23 March 1988.^[6] He has an elder brother, Craig. He was educated at Mount St Joseph School in Farnworth.^[7] In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games Kenny visited the school and praised the support he had received from his PE teachers.

Career

Future Stars series

Kenny's first taste of major track competition came when he competed in the Future Stars series, a junior competition held as part of the Revolution series at the Manchester Velodrome. Kenny competed in a number of the ad-hoc events during the first season of the Revolution in 2003/2004. In the second season, he competed in the first fully fledged Future Series competition, taking part in a number of sprint and endurance events for 15- and 16-year-olds, during the season of 4 track meetings. The series gives youngsters the chance to compete in front of a crowd from an early age, it is noted for showcasing the majority of Britain's young talent. When the 2004/2005 season finished in February 2005, the 16-year-old Kenny finished in the top 10 in the final standings.

2005–2007

During the 2005/2006 racing season, Kenny went on to compete for Great Britain at a junior level as a sprinter and won world titles at the junior world championships. In the 2006/2007 season, he competed at a senior level for the team and took part in a number of World Cup Classics events across the world and Revolution events in Manchester, pitting himself against some of the world's best Sprint riders. In the Revolution events in the 2007/2008 season, Kenny beat some of the world's best sprinters, including reigning world champion Theo Bos.

2008

Kenny made his debut in the world championships in 2008, finishing fifth overall in the sprint competition. In the Olympic Games, he made the team sprint squad, replacing Ross Edgar at man 2 in the team just before the Games. The team defeated the French team that had beaten them to the world title in Manchester only months earlier by over half a second. In the sprint competition, Kenny reached the final, but was defeated by his teammate Chris Hoy 2–0. His rise as a cyclist has been rapid. He progressed from competing in a domestic junior series to Olympic Champion in only 3 and a half years.

Kenny was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.^[8]

2012 Olympics

Kenny (front) and Chris Hoy during the team sprint at the 2012 Olympic Games

At the London 2012 Olympic Games Kenny won gold in the team sprint with Chris Hoy and Philip Hindes, setting a new world record in the London Velopark with a time of 42.6 seconds.^[9][10] He also won gold in the men's sprint final, setting a new Olympic Record in qualifying and avenging his previous losses to Baugé with a 200m time of 10.308s in his final lap. Kenny was elevated to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling.^[11][12]

2013–2014

Following the 2012 Olympics Kenny competed at the 2013 World Championships, he failed to backup his Olympic sprint and Team Sprint titles, finishing 7th and 6th respectively, however he did win the Keirin event.^[13]

His 2013–14 season started with national titles in all three Olympic sprint, team sprint and the keirin. At the first round of the UCI Track World Cup he failed to qualify for the sprint event, whilst finishing 4th in the Keirin and winning a bronze medal in the Team Sprint. At the second round of the world cup he secured silver medals in the Sprint and Team Sprint, but did not contest the Keirin. The World Cup/Championships season finished with the UCI World Championships where he failed to secure any medals, finishing 5th in all three events he contested.

At the Commonwealth Games he won a Silver medal in the Team Sprint. In the Sprint event he qualified 11th out of 12 qualifiers, and went on to lose his first round against Eddie Dawkins of New Zealand. This left him in the repechage where he beat his Great Britain teammates Callum Skinner and Lewis Oliva to make it to the 1/8 finals. Despite his poor form in the early rounds he 1/8 he beat Matthew Glaetzer, the fastest qualifier (qualifying almost half a second quicker) and holder of the Commonwealth Record, in two straight rides, to secure his way into the semi-finals where he beat Peter Lewis after three rides. In the final he won a silver medal, losing 2–1 to Sam Webster.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Kenny won gold in the men's team sprint with Philip Hindes and Callum Skinner.^[14] He won gold in the men's individual sprint, beating Callum Skinner in the final.^[15] On 16 August Kenny won the gold medal in the final of the men's Keirin, to join Chris Hoy as the holder of 6 Olympic Gold Medals, more than any other GB athlete.^[16]

Personal life

September 2016, Kenny married to fellow track cyclist Laura Trott.^[17][18]

Like former team-mate Chris Hoy, Kenny has tried his hand at motor racing in a Radical SR3, having finished on the podium at a round of the Radical European Masters at the Nürburgring in 2014.^[19]

Major results

Source:^[6]

See also

• 2012 Olympics gold post boxes in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Media related to Jason Kenny at Wikimedia Commons

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's sprint
1895: Robert Protin 1896: Paul Bourillon 1897: Willi Arend 1898: Georges Banker 1899: Marshall Taylor 1900: Edmond Jacquelin 1901–03: Thorvald Ellegaard 1904: Iver Lawson 1905: Gabriel Poulain 1906: Thorvald Ellegaard 1907: Emile Friol 1908: Thorvald Ellegaard 1909: Victor Dupre 1910: Emile Friol 1911: Thorvald Ellegaard 1912: Frank Louis Kramer 1913: Walter Rütt 1920: Bob Spears 1921–24: Piet Moeskops 1925: Ernst Kaufmann 1926: Piet Moeskops 1927–30: Lucien Michard 1931: Willy Hansen 1932–37: Jef Scherens 1938: Arie van Vliet 1939: Medal not awarded 1946: Jan Derksen 1947: Jef Scherens 1948: Arie van Vliet 1949–51: Reg Harris 1952: Oscar Plattner 1953: Arie van Vliet 1954: Reg Harris 1955–56: Antonio Maspes 1957: Jan Derksen 1958: Michel Rousseau 1959–62: Antonio Maspes 1963: Sante Gaiardoni 1964: Antonio Maspes 1965–66: Giuseppe Beghetto 1967: Patrick Sercu 1968: Giuseppe Beghetto 1969: Patrick Sercu 1970: Gordon Johnson 1971: Leijn Loevesijn 1972–73: Robert Van Lancker 1974: Peder Pedersen 1975–76: John Nicholson 1977–86: Koichi Nakano 1987: Nobuyuki Tawara 1988: Stephen Pate 1989: Claudio Golinelli 1990: Michael Hübner 1991: Carey Hall Medal not awarded 1992: Michael Hübner 1993: Gary Neiwand 1994: Marty Nothstein 1995: Darryn Hill 1996–98: Florian Rousseau 1999: Laurent Gané 2000: Jan van Eijden 2001: Arnaud Tournant 2002: Sean Eadie 2003: Laurent Gané 2004: Theo Bos 2005: René Wolff 2006–07: Theo Bos 2008: Chris Hoy 2009–10: Grégory Baugé 2011: Jason Kenny 2012: Grégory Baugé 2013: Stefan Bötticher 2014: François Pervis 2015: Grégory Baugé 2016: Jason Kenny

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's keirin
1980–81: Danny Clark 1982: Gordon Singleton 1983: Urs Freuler 1984: Robert Dill-Bundi 1985: Urs Freuler 1986: Michel Vaarten 1987: Harumi Honda 1988–89: Claudio Golinelli 1990–92: Michael Hübner 1993: Gary Neiwand 1994: Marty Nothstein 1995: Frédéric Magné 1996: Marty Nothstein 1997: Frédéric Magné 1998–99: Jens Fiedler 2000: Frédéric Magné 2001: Ryan Bayley 2002: Jobie Dajka 2003: Laurent Gané 2004: Jamie Staff 2005: Teun Mulder 2006: Theo Bos 2007–08: Chris Hoy 2009: Maximilian Levy 2010: Chris Hoy 2011: Shane Perkins 2012: Chris Hoy 2013: Jason Kenny 2014–15: François Pervis 2016: Joachim Eilers