Cycling
ESPN 6y

Laura Kenny wins second European Championships gold medal despite 'mum guilt'

Cycling, Olympic Sports

Laura Kenny won her second gold medal of the European Championships in Glasgow despite a sleepless night caring for her baby son.

Kenny, 26, was dominant in the final sprint of the elimination race and managed to secure her twelfth European Championship and thirtieth career medal.

The 26-year-old only returned to competition earlier this year after giving birth to her first child last August with partner and fellow track cyclist Jason Kenny.

After the race she admitted that caring for baby boy Albie and her nervousness had made it a restless night -- but that hadn't held her back.

""I was up five times last night and he didn't actually fall asleep until nine o'clock, the little sod," she said.

"But you get used to it. I don't even feel like I've had a lack of sleep any more -- I just come in and get on with it."

Kenny had to navigate difficult moments as she found herself boxed in more than once in the early stages at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

But she's Team GB's most successful female Olympian for a reason, and as the field narrowed she took control.

On the final lap of 40 German rider Anna Knauer moved early in a bid to outrun her for the line, but the four-time Olympic champion comfortably reeled her opponent in on the back straight.

"It's unbelievable, I'm just so happy," said Kenny. "Before I came into it, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it because it's been a year since I raced one of these and I was so nervous.

"In the back of my head, I'm thinking when I went off this morning, 'I've just left Albie for this' -- I had mum guilt, he wasn't very happy, he didn't sleep very well. I was thinking 'I don't want to leave him for nothing, I want to take a medal home so he's smiling!'"

The result meant a third success in the track cycling for Great Britain and a second gold medal of the Championships for Kenny, who won the women's team pursuit alongside Katie Archibald, Neah Evans and Elinor Barker on Friday.

The Team GB star said she never expected motherhood and unprecedented track success to come so quickly when she first competed in a European Championships in Poland in 2010.

""Poland was the beginning for me. If you'd asked me then if I'd be a mum with four Olympic and 12 European gold medals I would have said no, that's not the way my life is going to pan out.

"Pre-Rio I used to go home if I'd had a bad session and that was all I would think about, whereas now I don't have time to think about anything else other than Albie.

"He's running around like you wouldn't believe at the minute. I'm making sure he's not pulling the wires out of the wall or sticking things in plug sockets, rather than thinking about riding around in circles."

Kenny will compete for a third gold alongside home favourite Katie Archibald in the women's madison on Tuesday.

"They're going to go mad for Katie so it will be a great atmosphere," she said.

"I'm glad I've done a group race now. It was a good standard so now I know where I'm actually going."

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