Last updated on .From the section Cycling
Multiple Olympic champions Laura and Jason Kenny will lead the GB cycling team at this summer’s Tokyo Games.
A 26-person squad has been announced which features four more Olympic champions – Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald.
Twin brothers Adam and Simon Yates, 28, are among 16 athletes who will make their Olympic debut.
Rising star Tom Pidcock, 21, should be fit for the mountain bike event after breaking a collarbone in training.
London 2012 silver medallist Lizzie Deignan is part of a strong line-up for the road events with Anna Shackley, 2018 Tour de France winner Thomas, the Yates brothers and last year’s Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Team GB’s golden couple target more medals
Laura and Jason Kenny are Britain’s most successful Olympic couple and can each become the top British female and male Olympians of all time in Tokyo.
Laura, 29, has won four golds and sits one behind Dame Katherine Grainger’s total of five medals.
After suffering a broken shoulder in January 2020, she has cemented her place in the team pursuit, omnium and Madison events thanks to the Games being postponed from 2020.
“For me as an athlete, having this extra year has definitely helped me,” she said.
“I would have been OK. [But] how I would have been selected for that Madison I don’t know, because prior to last year I would not have had the opportunities that I needed.”
Her husband, Jason, 33, has six golds and a silver – one short of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ career tally of eight medals.The Netherlands have assumed Britain’s previous dominance in the men’s sprint events, winning the past three world team titles, and since winning three golds at Rio 2016, Kenny’s total of major medals is two team silvers behind the Dutch.
“We haven’t been the dominant team,” he said. “We have been trying to find a bit of form over the last 12 months.”
Team GB cycling team
Men’s Road: Tao Geoghegan Hart, Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates, Simon Yates. Women’s Road: Lizzie Deignan, Anna Shackley.
Men’s TT: Tao Geoghegan Hart, Geraint Thomas. Women’s TT: Anna Shackley.
Men’s MTB: Tom Pidcock. Women’s MTB: Evie Richards.
Men’s BMX SX: Kye Whyte, Ross Cullen*. Women’s BMX SX: Beth Shriever.
Men’s BMX Freestyle Park: Declan Brooks, James Jones*. Women’s BMX Freestyle Park: Charlotte Worthington.
Men’s Endurance: Ed Clancy, Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon, Matt Walls, Ollie Wood, Charlie Tanfield*. Women’s Endurance: Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Neah Evans, Laura Kenny, Josie Knight.
Men’s Sprint: Jack Carlin, Jason Kenny, Ryan Owens, Phil Hindes*. Women’s Sprint: Katy Marchant.
* denotes travelling reserve
