Laura Kenny’s Paris 2024 hopes fade after the five-time Olympic champion misses out on latest British Cycling squad… as she bids to compete at a fourth Games just months after giving birth to her second child

Laura Kenny’s hopes of earning a place at the Paris Olympics appear to be fading after she was not selected by British Cycling for their latest international event.

Britain’s most successful female Olympian announced last year that she wanted to compete at her fourth Games despite only giving birth to her second son, Monty, last July.

However, with less than six months to go before Paris 2024, Kenny is yet to return to action and faces a race against time to even earn the required qualifying points, regardless of whether she would ultimately be picked.

The five-time gold medallist has not competed since 2022 and is not in Britain’s team for this weekend’s Track Nations Cup in Adelaide, having also missed the European Championships in Apeldoorn three weeks ago.

If Kenny does not feature in the next Track Nations Cup event in Hong Kong in March, her last chance to collect the required 10 points to make her eligible for the Olympics would be at the final Nations Cup meeting in Milton, Canada in April.

Kenny faces a race against time to earn qualifying points to be in contention for the Olympics

Kenny would also need to force her way into a squad that won the world team pursuit title

However, even then, it appears unlikely the 31-year-old would be able to force her way into a squad that won the world team pursuit title in Glasgow last summer in her absence.

Kenny’s hopes of making it to Paris are further hindered by the fact Britain are only able to select five riders to compete across the team pursuit, madison and omnium events at the Olympics.

Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Neah Evans are the riders currently expected to be picked in those slots.

Kenny, who had her first son Albie in 2017, won the madison with Archibald at Tokyo 2020, after claiming golds in the omnium and team pursuit at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Speaking last November, she said: ‘I want to compete at the next Olympics. I know everyone thinks I’m absolutely mad in saying that, but if I don’t try, I’ll never know.

Kenny won women’s madion gold alongside Katie Archibald, left, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

‘I would hate to be sat here thinking, “Well, I never even gave it a go to see if I could make it”.

‘I hope both children see their mum as someone who was determined to make both things work. They will never have the burden of thinking, “Oh, mum had me and then ended her career”.’

Kenny’s husband Jason retired after winning his seventh Olympic gold in Tokyo and now coaches Britain’s men’s sprint team.