I was in the worst shape of my life last year after giving birth.. now I’m targeting Team GB gold at Paris 2024 Olympics

KATY MARCHANT kick-starts her Olympic year on Wednesday in the best shape of her life.

Twelve months ago, the cyclist started the first tentative peddle rotations back to professional sport after giving birth to son Arthur in June 2022.

Katy Marchant gave birth to her son Arthur in the summer of 2022Startraks

Getty Images – GettyKatie Marchant is seeking a sensational return to the Olympics[/caption]

More than a year on, she has her eye firmly fixed on riding in the French capital in Team GB colours and has started the New Year by visualising herself on the start line with her family in attendance.

The plans are to ride in THREE separate events at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome and hopefully win medals in each of them.

Not only will she be one of the few women in the National Lottery funding era to qualify for an Olympics after having a child like Dame Laura Kenny.

More significantly, she wants to join a rare breed of female sprinters in the British set-up to compete at three Games, following her appearances at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.

Olympic bronze medallist Marchant, 30, told SunSport: “At the beginning of 2023, I was in the worst physical shape I have ever been after having Arthur.

“Now I’d say I am physically the best I have ever been.

“I genuinely feel that. Whether it’s mum strength or the age I am at, I do feel physically in an incredible place.

“It has all happened in such a short space of time. I’ve learned so much about myself.

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Marchant, right, won bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in RioGetty

She has come a long way on the bike since giving birth 18 months agoStartraks

“The setbacks I had last year trying to get back into the team is something I really, really craved. It was so beneficial to me.

“It has put me in this position now. I’m hungrier than I have ever been.

“That hunger just keeps growing, as we get nearer to Paris. I think it helps that we have the in-house competition.”

The first event of 2024 will be the five-day Track Elite European Championships in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

Marchant will ride in the 500 metres Time Trial while also trying to cement her saddle spot in position one of the women’s team sprint for the rest of the campaign.

For Marchant, the next few weeks, which includes a Nations Cup trip to South Australia, will be the longest period she has spent away from home, and the longest absence from her family.

But it all be worth it if she can make the Paris Olympics team, particularly if she can qualify for the triple targets of women’s team sprint, individual sprint and Keirin.

Marchant – who is supported by National Lottery funding – added: “I’ll be one of the few British sprinters to make it to three Olympics if I make it to Paris. That’s something that really drives me.

“I feel like that could be really inspiring to others. I want the other girls on the team to watch me, see what I have done.

“I might not have seven Olympic gold medals around my neck, but I will have had 10-11 years of an incredible career.

“I feel really privileged to have had that. I really want this to continue in the way I vision it.

“And I really see myself in Paris, I see Arthur sat on the barrier watching me. I am going to manifest it and going to make that happen.

“I feel like it is going in the right direction and I am really excited. I believe I will be on that plane for Paris.”

+ National Lottery players have transformed cycling in the UK with £230million invested since Lottery funding began. They have supported Britain to become a global cycling force and have provided more opportunities for people across the country to cycle in their communities. For info visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk