Olympic champion Katy Marchant retires after 13-year career

Olympic gold medallist Katy Marchant has announced her retirement from cycling.

The 33-year-old ends a 13-year career at the top of track sprinting. Her final race brought a silver medal in the women's team sprint at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, BBC Sport reported.

Marchant came to the sport late. She switched to cycling at 19 after starting out in heptathlon, the seven-event athletics discipline.

It proved a fast rise. On her Olympic debut in Rio in 2016 she won bronze in the individual sprint, the one-on-one tactical battle over three laps of the track.

Eight years later came the biggest win. Marchant helped the women's team sprint trio win Britain's first Olympic gold in that event at the Paris Games in 2024. That is the three-rider, three-lap race against the clock where every start and changeover has to be perfect.

The same year also brought World and European titles. She was then awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year Honours.

Her road to Paris and beyond was not smooth. In a crash at the London velodrome reported in December 2024, she was launched into the crowd and suffered a broken arm and two dislocated fingers, Reuters reported. The velodrome said it would reassess safety after the incident.

She returned to racing at the British Track Championships just over a year after that crash, TNT Sports reported. Then came one last summer in British colours in Glasgow.

Marchant said she had considered carrying on to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In the end she stepped away.

"It's not been a difficult decision," she said. "I've achieved more than I could ever have dreamed of achieving."

British Cycling announced the news with a tribute titled "Olympic legend Katy Marchant closes the chapter on a history-making career".

What makes this stand out is the arc. From a 19-year-old beginner to Olympic bronze, then world champion and Olympic champion at 31. She leaves with gold, bronze and a last silver.