Laura Kenny is making history.
Kenny and Katie Archibald are going home with a gold medal won the first-ever Olympic women’s Madison, making Kenny the first British woman to win a gold medal in three consecutive Olympic Games.
The event also returned for the men for the first time since 2008.
Kenny, who notched a silver medal in the team pursuit event earlier in the week, won her fifth career Olympic gold medal, surpassing Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel of the Netherlands to become the most decorated female cyclist in the history of the Olympic Games.
“It’s unbelievable. I am just so glad,” Kenny said after the win. “I have never wanted to win a race so badly in my life. It was giving me fears like never before. But we went and did it.”
The 29-year-old Harlow native did not just overcome her competition – the British pair won 10 of the 12 sprints to finish with 78 points, more than double Denmark’s second-place score of 35 – but handled the challenge of being a mother away from her 3-year-old son, Albie.
“I have never missed him so much in all my life. It’s so hard leaving him at home,” Kenny said. “To have [Archibald] here – it feels like I am racing with my sister. I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Kenny’s husband since 2016, Jason, is Great Britain’s most decorated Olympian.