Britain's Archibald ready to fill Kenny's shoes in triple gold hunt

LONDON : British track cyclist Katie Archibald will target three gold medals at this year's Paris Olympics but this time her trusty team mate Laura Kenny will not have her back.

The career of 30-year-old Archibald has been closely entwined with Kenny, Britain's most-decorated female Olympian with five gold medals in her collection.

Scotland's Archibald has two of her own, team pursuit in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 alongside Kenny and then in the Madison at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 where she and Kenny blew away their rivals inside the Izu velodrome.

The 32-year-old Kenny's retirement means Archibald is very much the leader of the British track team as they try to once again top the medals table on the wooden boards.

They are big shoes to fill but five-times world champion Archibald gives off an air of confidence after winning three titles at the Nations Cup in Canada recently and appears happy with her elevated status in the team.

"What was interesting is that I really felt quite comfortable in a leadership role in the Tokyo Games," Archibald told Reuters after giving a talk to primary school children in Essex - part of the build-up to this year's UCI Ride London Classique and 100-mile mass participation event on May 26.

"In Rio I sort of had stars in my eyes and was not really in control of my own journey. Just following people, trying to keep up and thinking 'what's this all about?'

"When it came to Tokyo there were these new opportunities and then I kind of knew who I was as a rider and I felt comfortable moving the whole team forward."

While Kenny was very much in the glare of the spotlight after bursting onto the scene at London 2012 and then marrying fellow British track great Jason Kenny, Archibald has up until now