Katy Nicholls has no plans to end career as she gets ready to become a mother

Olympic sprinter Katy Nicholls has set her sights on returning to elite competition after revealing she is expecting her first child this summer.

The 29-year-old Nicholls, nee Marchant, is due to join the growing number of mums within the British Cycling squad after former Olympic champion Elinor Barker gave birth to her son Nico last month.

And, like Barker, Nicholls wants to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Dame Laura Kenny, Dame Sarah Storey and Lizzie Deignan in returning to racing at the highest level after becoming a mother.

“I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was going to carry on after Tokyo, I didn’t know what the next few years were going to look like, but something in me feels unfinished,” Nicholls told the PA news agency.

“I don’t want to stop and I don’t want having a baby to stop my career so it’s great to have those role models to show you it doesn’t have to.”

Nicholls, who won individual sprint bronze at the Rio Olympics, rode to sixth in the sprint in Tokyo before her keirin hopes were ended by a crash in the quarter-finals.

She admitted she went to Japan not 100 per cent certain if she would continue racing beyond, but her mind is made up now.

“On the plane back I felt I was not quite finished, I still had things I wanted to do,” she said. “And once I found out I was pregnant, something else came over me and I thought, ‘I’m definitely not done’. I love a challenge and I’d really like to give this a go.”

A post shared by Elinor Barker (@elinorbarker)

Nicholls always planned a post-Olympic break – she married husband Rob in Santorini, Greece in September – but has continued to train during her pregnancy.

There has been plenty of help from Barker, who has been a few months ahead having been in the