Five-time Olympic cycling champion Laura Kenny has opened up about her heartbreaking miscarriage and subsequent ectopic pregnancy.
The British track and road cyclist and her husband Jason Kenny had been trying for a second child after welcoming son Albie, but in late 2021, Laura suffered a miscarriage, and in January 2022, she had an ectopic pregnancy that resulted in emergency surgery.
Sharing a candid glimpse inside the ordeal, Laura, 32, recently told The Times: "It was horrendous, really difficult.
"The chances of having a miscarriage, then an ectopic, are something like 1 percent. So I kept asking myself, 'Why do I deserve this?' For a long time after that I turned in within myself. I just couldn't speak to anyone; I wasn't the very open Laura I am normally. I didn't know how to voice how I was feeling."
Reflecting on her performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games - during which she clinched gold in the Scratch race - mum-of-two Laura went on to say: "I thought, 'Why can't I have that luck in my personal life?' My body would give me that [cycling success], but it wouldn't give me the thing I really, really wanted, which was another baby."
Their parenthood journey was nonetheless bittersweet, with the pair going on to welcome their second son, Monty, in July 2023.
Laura's decision to quit cycling earlier this year was prompted by her desire to spend more time with Jason and their two children. During an appearance on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, she explained: "I just kept getting this horrible feeling in my tummy like: 'You don't want to go there so why are you leaving the children to go there?'
"And I thought: 'No, I don't want to be riding my bike any more. I'm just doing it because it's all I’ve ever known.' And so when I started getting these gut-wrenching feelings I thought: 'That's it. Decision made for me.'"
While Laura has stepped away from the velodrome, she hasn't bid farewell to the sport just yet. She is set to join the BBC commentary box at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics which kick off later this month.
She is set to join a number of special guests, including gymnast Beth Tweddle, fellow cyclist Chris Hoy, track and field athletes Denise Lewis and Jessica Ennis-Hill, rower Katherine Grainger, swimmers Mark Foster and Rebecca Adlington and boxer, Nicola Adams.