Jason Kenny

Jason Kenny

Personal information
Full name	Jason Kenny
Born	23 March 1988 (1988-03-23) England United Kingdom
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb; 13 st)
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprint
Professional team(s)
2008–	Sky+ HD
Medal record Track cycling Competitor for Great Britain Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Team sprint Silver 2008 Beijing Individual sprint World Championships Gold 2011 Apeldoorn Sprint Silver 2009 Pruszków Team sprint Silver 2011 Apeldoorn Team sprint Bronze 2010 Ballerup Team sprint European Championships Gold 2010 Pruszków Keirin Bronze 2010 Pruszków Sprint Bronze 2010 Pruszków Team sprint
Infobox last updated on 6 January 2012

Jason Francis Kenny MBE (born 23 March 1988 in Bolton, United Kingdom) is an English track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. After winning multiple World and European Junior titles in 2006 and achieving medals in the under 23 European championships in 2007, Kenny was selected ahead of Ross Edgar to compete for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Along with Chris Hoy and Jamie Staff, he won gold medal in the team sprint, breaking the world record in the qualifying round. He also finished behind team-mate Chris Hoy in the final of the individual sprint, gaining a silver medal.

In January 2012, he gained his first world championship title, after Grégory Baugé's results were nullified after a backdated 12-month ban for missing a drugs test, and the Union Cycliste Internationale promoted Kenny to the gold medal.

Future Stars series

Kenny's first taste of major track competition came when he competed in the Future Stars series, a junior competition held as part of the Revolution series at the Manchester Velodrome. Kenny competed in a number of the ad-hoc events during the first season of the Revolution in 2003/2004. In the second season, he competed in the first fully fledged Future Series competition, taking part in a number of sprint and endurance events for 15–16-year-olds, during the season of 4 track meetings. The series gives youngsters the chance to compete in front of a crowd from an early age, it is noted for showcasing the majority of Britain's young talent. When the 2004/2005 season finished in February 2005, the 16 year old Kenny finished in the top 10 in the final standings.

2005–2007

During the 2005/2006 racing season, Kenny went on to compete for Great Britain at a junior level as a sprinter and won world titles at the junior world championships. In the 2006/2007 season, he competed at a senior level for the team and took part in a number of World Cup Classics events across the world and Revolution events in Manchester, pitting himself against some of the world's best Sprint riders.

In the Revolution events in the 2007/2008 season, Kenny beat some of the world's best sprinters, including reigning world champion Theo Bos.

2008

Kenny made his debut in the world championships in 2008, finishing fifth overall in the sprint competition.

In the Olympic Games, Kenny managed to make the team sprint squad, replacing the established Ross Edgar at man 2 in the team just before the Games. The team defeated the French team that had beaten them to the world title in Manchester only months earlier by over half a second. In the Sprint (cycling) competition, Kenny reached the final, but was defeated by his teammate Chris Hoy 2-0.

Kenny rise as a cyclist has been rapid. He progressed from competing in a domestic junior series to Olympic Champion in only 3 and a half years. He has taken full advantage of the excellent modern day set in the Great Britain squad to excel from a very early age. He is considerably further ahead, in terms of ability and achievement, than his senior riders like Hoy and Craig MacLean were at his age.^{[citation needed]}

On 31 December 2008, it was announced that Kenny was to be appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Major results

2005

1st British National Team Sprint Championships

2006

1st Team Sprint, Round 2, Moscow, 2006–2007 Track World Cup

3rd Team Sprint, Round 3, Los Angeles, 2006–2007 Track World Cup

3rd British National Team Sprint Championships

2007

3rd Team Sprint, European Track Championships (U23)

3rd Sprint, European Track Championships (U23)

2nd British National Team Sprint Championships

2008

1st Team Sprint, Summer Olympics

2nd Sprint, Summer Olympics

1st Sprint, Round 1, Manchester, 2008–2009 Track World Cup

1st Team Sprint, Round 1, Manchester, 2008–2009 Track World Cup

2nd Keirin, Round 1, Manchester, 2008–2009 Track World Cup

2009

2nd Team Sprint, UCI Track World Championships

1st Team Sprint, Round 5, Copenhagen, 2008–2009 Track World Cup

2nd Team Sprint, Round 1, Manchester, 2009–2010 Track World Cup

3rd Sprint, Round 1, Manchester, 2009–2010 Track World Cup

2nd Keirin, European Track Championships (U23)

2nd Sprint, European Track Championships (U23)

2nd Team Sprint, European Track Championships (U23)

2010

1st British National Team Sprint Championships

1st Keirin European Track Championships

2011

1st Sprint, UCI Track World Championships