The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Cycling’s golden couple prepare for big day
Planning her wedding to six-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny helped Laura Trott relax during her own gold medal exploits
Wedding planning was a welcome distraction for Laura Trott as she became Great Britain’s most successful female Olympian.
The 24-year-old track cyclist, from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, won two gold medals at the Rio Olympics, successfully retaining the team pursuit and omnium titles she won at London 2012.
Trott is engaged to Jason Kenny, now a six-time Olympic champion after he won three gold medals over six days of action at the Rio Velodrome.
The couple are to marry month.
Trott’s mother Glenda told Press Association Sport: “They’ve got a wedding to plan. It’s helped a lot because Laura’s got something else to occupy her mind. Jason just comes along and puts a suit on.”
Kenny even joked he did not know the wedding date, while Trott hinted it was not just wedding planning on her agenda.
She wrote on Twitter: “Arghhhh !!!!!! I love him to bits. Our kids have to get some of these genes right?!”
Trott and Kenny’s romance emerged at the London 2012 Games when they were pictured kissing behind David next Beckham at the beach volleyball, having each won two gold medals.
Some observers joked British Cycling, famed for attention to detail, had even thought of a breeding programme.
Trott was born a month prematurely with a collapsed lung, but she was peerless on the bike in winning the six-discipline omnium.
Glenda, who was in Rio with husband Adrian, spoke of her pride in her daughter and soon to be son-in-law.
“She’s really worked hard to get here. She puts her heart and soul into her job,” Glenda said. “As parents and family, it’s been an amazing time.
“Because they’ve got one another’s support and they’re in the same business together, if one’s on a downer, something’s gone wrong, they can help each other out and support as much as they can.”
Kenny congratulated Trott on her success before claiming his own and receiving a rewarding kiss from his partner.
“No one would know if you come in they’re a couple. When they’re in here, they’ve got a job to do,” Glenda added.
Charley Hull carded an opening 68 to lead Britain’s hopes of a golden double in golf’s return to the Olympics, following Justin Rose’s victory on Sunday.
Her Scottish team-mate Catriona Matthew had to settle for a level par 71, six shots behind the leader, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.
Inbee Park and South Korean compatriot Kim Sei-young share second place on 66.
Matthew had to fight back from a poor start, suffering a double bogey on the third.
The 46-year-old Scot – the oldest player in the field – bounced back with a birdie from 12ft on the sixth and another from close range on the ninth to reach the turn at level par.
Another birdie on the 11th took her into red figures, but a bogey on the 13th followed by five straight pars meant she had to settle for a 71.
“I’m a little bit disappointed,” said Matthew.
“I had a lot of chances in the last five or six holes and hit some good putts that didn’t go in. But I suppose overall I am still in it, and that’s the main thing.
“It was a tricky pin (on the third) and I probably shouldn’t have been so aggressive. I plugged it in the bunker and it led to an easy double. I hit good birdies on six and nine to get back in it, and played really well from the sixth hole on.”
Hull carded four birdies and a solitary bogey. “I played well but feel like I left so many shots out there on the back nine,” said the 20-year-old.
Jutanugarn, who won the Women’s British Open at Hull’s home course of Woburn last month, carded seven birdies and an eagle in her 65.
At 28, seven-time major champion Park is the youngest player to qualify for the Hall of Fame, but has not broken par on the LPGA Tour since April as she battles a ligament injury in her left thumb.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire, the world’s top-ranked amateur, birdied the opening hole, but took seven on the 10th in a three-over-par 74. Her team-mate Stephanie Meadow shot 77.