DAME Laura Kenny has won a gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games for Team England.
And the Chelford-based rider says in some ways she is even more proud of this success than some of her Olympic victories.
She finished first in the women's scratch 10k, fending off competition from Michaela Drummond from New Zealand and Maggie Coles-Lyster from Canada over the 40 laps at Lee Valley VeloPark in London.
⚡⚡Lightning-fast⚡⚡
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 1, 2022
Congratulations to the amazing Laura Kenny for the spectacular race earlier today
🚴♀️GOLD🥇#BringitHome pic.twitter.com/WleWHNfOCH
All pictures courtesy of PA
“It feels amazing," said Kenny, who had been struggling to find her top form and finished 13th in the women's 25k points race on Sunday.
“Even before the start, I didn’t know if I could do it. I came in this morning in a completely different mindset, thinking, ‘of course you can do it.’
“I told myself in the toilet, ‘you need to race as Laura Trott,’ that old bike rider who didn’t think about anything else other than crossing that finish line first.
“When I changed my mindset, I just felt completely different.”
The pressure on the 'Queen' of the track can be tough to deal with.
“It’s just tricky because you are constantly under the eye. Everyone wants to watch what you are doing and it’s a really tricky place," she said.
“To have to come through all of that and then to try and step up in front of a home crowd. In a way, I’m prouder of that than many of the other Olympic medals that I’ve won.”
This is her second medal of the Games.
GO ON LAURA!
— Birmingham 2022 (@birminghamcg22) August 1, 2022
Gold for England's Laura Kenny in the 10km Scratch Race. @TeamEngland's first gold medal in Track Cycling at Birmingham 2022. @LauraKenny31 🤩 #CommonwealthGames22 #CommonwealthGames pic.twitter.com/9d28B9uulJ
England's first gold on the track, and of course it was Queen Kenny 👑@LauraKenny31 saves a surge of energy to sprint to the 10km scratch race title for @TeamEngland 🥇#B2022 pic.twitter.com/B08wieKl7l
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) August 1, 2022
Can neither confirm nor deny that this is the current scene at the VeloPark 👑 👀👸 #BringItHome | #Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/fmFDwRL44a
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 1, 2022
I love Laura Kenny..... She is AMAZING! And such a lovely person too!
— AnG (@alangaulton) August 1, 2022
The most decorated female British Olympian of all time claimed bronze with her England colleagues in the women's 4000m team pursuit on Friday.
Kenny, along with her teammates Josie Knight, Maddie Leech and Sophie Lewis, are also celebrating knocking almost three seconds off their personal best time in beating Wales to the third-place position.
The two nations qualified for the bronze race earlier in the day, missing out on the gold medal race to Australia and New Zealand with the former going on to finish in first spot.
It is a fine achievement for the Team England girls, who, other than coming together for training this week, had only had three previous sessions to practice.
The whole occasion is new to some of the riders, with 19-year-old Leech revealing she had not ridden in front of a crowd before today.
But she hailed the experience of Kenny and Lewis in helping them on to the podium.
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