Dame Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, has announced her retirement from cycling.

The 31-year-old won five Olympic golds and seven World Championship titles in a distinguished career on the track.

She gave birth to her second child in July and had previously been targeting a fourth Olympics in Paris this year.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Breakfast, Kenny said: “I always knew deep down I would know when was the right time.

“I have had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up.”

Kenny, married to former cyclist Sir Jason Kenny – who is the most decorated British Olympian – added: “It’s been in my head a little while, the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home is really quite big and it really is a big decision to make.

“More and more, I was struggling to do that. More people asking me what races was I doing, what training camps was I going on – I didn’t want to go ultimately and that’s what it came down to.

“I knew the minute I was getting those feelings. Once I said to Jase, ‘I don’t think I want to ride a bike anymore’, I started to feel relief.”

Kenny gave birth to her first son, Albie, in 2017 after which she returned to cycling, eager to prove athletes could juggle the demands of sport with motherhood.

After a miscarriage in late 2021 and an ectopic pregnancy just months later, the Kennys welcomed their second son, Monty, in 2023.

Earlier in March, British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said Kenny had only a “slim chance” of competing in Paris.

“I was getting these hesitant feelings,” said Kenny.

“Going on to win another gold medal, as much as I would love to do that, it wasn’t giving me the energy I wanted anymore, it just wasn’t.

“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I really want to go on and win one’. I was thinking, ‘I really want to stay at home with the children’.”