Writing on Instagram, Dame Laura Kenny, Britain's most successful female Olympic athlete, says miscarriage in November of last year left her feeling "like a part of me had been torn away", says she would have been "broken" without husband Jason and son Albie
Friday 22 April 2022 18:01, UK
Five-time Olympic gold medallist Dame Laura Kenny has revealed that she has recently had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy.
Writing on Instagram, the cyclist said she suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks in November of last year and the ectopic pregnancy two months later in January, when one of her fallopian tubes was removed.
An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb.
"Since the Olympics we haven't had much luck and it's been the hardest few months I've ever had to go through," said the 29-year-old.
"(Husband) Jason and I fell pregnant immediately after the Games and we were absolutely chuffed to bits.
"But unfortunately in November when commentating at the track champions league I miscarried our baby at 9 weeks. I've never felt so lost and sad. It felt like a part of me had been torn away.
"I grabbed for my safety blanket, bike riding! I found myself back in my happy place training again. I then caught Covid in mid-January and found myself feeling really very unwell.
"I didn't have typical covid symptoms and I just felt I needed to go to hospital. A day later I found myself in A&E being rushed to theatre because I was having an ectopic pregnancy.
"Scared doesn't even come close. I lost a fallopian tube that day."
Kenny and husband Jason Kenny have a son, Albie, who was born in August 2017.
Kenny won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Glasgow on Thursday, alongside Katie Archibald, Neah Evans and Josie Knight, as the quartet matched their result at last summer's Olympics in Tokyo.
She said: "I've always known I was tough, but sometimes life pushes you to an unbearable limit. If it wasn't for Jason and Albie getting me through the day to day I'd have been broken.
"But here I am, with the support of my family, friends and team mates, on the podium of a nation's cup."
Kenny won gold in the madison at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, following on from victories in the omnium and team pursuit at both the 2012 Games in London and 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
