Jason Kenny
Great Britain
Track Cycling
Overall Ranks
#2 among British Olympians
#1 among Track Cyclists
Olympic Results
2008
Sprint - Silver
Team Sprint - Gold
2012
Sprint - Gold
Team Sprint - Gold
2016
Sprint - Gold
Keirin - Gold
Team Sprint - Gold
2020
Keirin - Gold
Team Sprint - Silver
Total
Events - 10
Gold - 7
Silver - 2
Jason Francis Kenny was born on March 23, 1988 in Bolton, England, and learned to ride a bike early like most children, then fell in love with track cycling when he was introduced to it by his uncle as a teenager. He began competing on the senior circuit in 2006, and made his first Olympic team in 2008, at the age of 20.
Kenny's first Olympic event was the team sprint, where he was the #2 racer on the British team, behind Chris Hoy (#131 in my countdown). The team beat Germany by over a second in their prelim heat, then beat the American team by over 2 seconds in the semifinal, which put them in the final round against France, who had beaten them in the most recent World Championship. Britain held the lead through the entire race, avenging their earlier loss by over half a second, and Kenny began his Olympic career with a gold medal.
His only other event in Beijing was the sprint, where Hoy was one of the favorites, and Kenny was more of an unknown. Each round before the semifinals consisted of a single winner-take-all race, but the final 3 rounds were all best-of-three. Both Kenny and Hoy won every single race on their way to an all-British showdown for gold. In the end, the favorite came through to defeat the newcomer, but Kenny still came away with an unexpected silver medal.
He was back in 2012 to compete in his home Olympics in London, and again teamed up with Hoy in the team sprint event, where they were favored to repeat as champs. The team set a new Olympic record in the first round, then a new world record in the semifinal, before breaking it again in the final against France, giving them another gold medal.
In the sprint event, Hoy was not competing, instead focusing on other events, but Kenny was still not the favorite, as Gregory Bauge of France had won the last 3 World Championships. Both Kenny and Bauge were undefeated all the way to the final, but in the final, Kenny pulled off the upset this time, winning both races against Bauge to take the gold.
In 2016, Kenny was back for more in Rio, but Hoy had retired after the London Olympics, and his space in the team sprint was filled by Callum Skinner. New Zealand was the defending world champion and the favorite, but it was Britain that set a new Olympic record in the first round, which the Kiwis broke in the semifinal, leading to a showdown for gold. New Zealand took the lead on the first lap, but Kenny was able to overtake them during his turn, after which Skinner pulled away to set another Olympic record, and give the Brits their third straight gold in the event.
In the sprint, Kenny had struggled since the previous Olympics, so he wasn't necessarily the favorite, but he set a new Olympic record in qualifying, then won all of his races up to the semifinal round, where he lost his first race to Denis Dmitriyev of Russia, then had to fight back to win two straight races to advance to the final. In the final, he faced Skinner, his new teammate, and beat him in two straight races to successfully defend his gold from London.
He also raced in the keirin for the first time in the Olympics in 2016, where Hoy had won the past two golds. He was able to reach the final after winning each of his first two heats, and in the final, he was in third place for most of the race, but when the two leaders began to fade on the final lap, Kenny came around them on the outside to beat them both to the gold, tying Hoy for the most gold medals ever for a British Olympian in the process.
Kenny came back for one final Olympic run in Tokyo, where both of his teammates in the team sprint had been replaced, and their longtime coach had left to coach the Dutch team. The Dutch ended up setting new Olympic records in all 3 rounds, while the British were able to make it to the finals, but were no match for the Netherlands, who beat them by over 3 seconds, leaving a silver for the Brits.
In the sprint, where Kenny was 2-time defending champion, he was able to win his first two races, but lost in round 3 to Dmitriyev, forcing him into the repechage pool. He won that race to advance into the quarterfinal, but there he lost again, to Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands, who went on to win the gold medal, while Kenny missed out on a medal for the first time in his Olympic career.
In the keirin, Kenny was back to defend his gold as well, but came in 4th in his first round heat, dropping him into the repechage. He won that heat to get back into the field in the quarterfinal, where he advanced after finishing #2 in his heat. He ran his strongest race in the semifinal to get back to the final, where he changed strategies, sprinting ahead as soon as the pace bike was removed, and the change worked, as his surprised opponents didn't follow soon enough, and Kenny was able to finish his career off with one final gold medal.
Kenny married fellow British track cyclist Laura Trott in 2016, and she is a 5-time Olympic gold medalist herself. Kenny retired after Tokyo, and now coaches the British track cycling team. His 7 gold and 9 medals overall are both British records, as well as records for cyclists, making him easily one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
