Dame Laura Kenny named president of Commonwealth Games England

Dame Laura Kenny has insisted the Commonwealth Games remain as relevant as ever to athletes as the five-time Olympic champion takes on a new role as president of Commonwealth Games England.

Two-and-a-half years after winning scratch race gold at the Birmingham Games, the last victory of Kenny’s illustrious career, the 32-year-old has become the organisation’s youngest ever president, following in the footsteps of Dame Kelly Holmes and Dame Denise Lewis.

But Kenny’s appointment comes as the future of the Commonwealth Games continues to be debated. Birmingham was widely seen as a success but only a year later the Australian state of Victoria cancelled plans to host the 2026 edition due to rising costs.

Instead, Glasgow will host a much-reduced form of the Games – with Monday marking 500 days to go – and questions remain over where the event fits in the sporting landscape. But Kenny said that from the perspective of those taking part, the Commonwealth Games remain vital.

“It absolutely is (still relevant),” Kenny told the PA news agency. “If you ask an athlete, besides the Olympics it’s the only multi-sport event we actually have. If you turn up at a world championships and it goes wrong, there’s always next year.

“The Commonwealth Games are every four years. It’s a real learning curve. The Olympics are the only other thing where you have to wait four years to rectify it.”

Kenny believes the experience of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was a pivotal moment in her career. Even though she did not make an impact in Delhi, it set her up for the success that followed in London two years later.

“Delhi didn’t go well for me necessarily, but after that I got put on the long list for London 2012, and it was that kind of spiral that started my journey,” she said.

“I look back and having that experience of going to a multi-discipline event, the experience of an athlete’s village, the Commonwealth Games was my opportunity to do all that so when I went to London 2012 it wasn’t scary, it wasn’t daunting. I’d done it before.”

Kenny admitted she was surprised by the crisis created by Victoria’s decision to pull out of 2026.

Although Glasgow stepped in, only 10 sports remain on the programme – half the number from Birmingham – with hockey, diving, cricket, badminton, beach volleyball, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon and wrestling all cut along with the marathon and road cycling.

Kenny said she will consider reaching out to some of those athletes who had expected to be competing before the cuts were announced.

“I can’t imagine thinking you were going to have an event and then it being pulled out from underneath you, because it’s like Covid and the (postponement of the Tokyo) Olympics, the horrible feeling you’ve training for all that time for nothing,” she said.

“I’d be gutted if it was my sport that had been pulled… When they said it was going to be more compact, you thought this could be an absolute disaster if they pull the wrong events, but you’re never going to please everyone.”

Kenny announced in January that she and husband Sir Jason are expecting a third child later this year, but taking on a new role entirely different to anything she has done before while handling a growing family does not daunt her.

“We are absolute carnage and the kids thrive off it,” she said of family life. “It never crossed my mind not to take it.”