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Great Britain’s Olympic champion cyclist Jason Kenny wants to use his success in the London Velodrome to start a reign of supremacy in world track sprinting.
The 24-year-old British Cycling Olympic Podium Programme athlete won two gold medals in the team and individual sprint disciplines in August to add to his gold and silver from the Beijing Games.
Kenny, who was selected over Sir Chris Hoy for the sprint in the summer, begins his international season this weekend with the Glasgow Track World Cup at the velodrome named after Hoy.
The Bolton-born rider, who beat France’s world champion Gregory Bauge in the Olympic sprint final, is targeting more triumphs and another rainbow jersey to add to the one he was awarded from the 2011 track world championships after Bauge was stripped of the title.
"I don't feel any different; I don't feel like the Olympic sprint champion. I just feel normal," Kenny told Press Association Sport.
"What I've come to realise is that I loved winning it, I loved actually winning it and racing it. I want to get that feeling back. With that in mind I'm keen to get back on it, put some hard yards in now and hopefully when February comes around I can get that feeling back.
"Winning the worlds is a massive, massive thing that I want to do. I've got to get to work now."
Prior to his Olympic triumph, Kenny had lost his previous four meetings with Bauge two heats to nil, including the 2011 track world championship sprint final in Apeldoorn. He was later awarded the rainbow jersey at the London 2012 test event in February following the UCI’s decision to strip Bauge of the title.
Kenny is now planning a more edifying experience of winning the title on the track itself at next year’s championships in Minsk, Belarus in February.
"Getting it in retrospect was all good and well, it's nice to have your name on the list as world champion, but it's actually winning the race that I enjoy and I didn't do that," Kenny said.
"I want to win every race that I compete in, it's as simple as that. That's what I'm training for."
That process starts in Glasgow, 407 miles up the road from Kenny’s last competitive outing in London but where a similar partisan capacity crowd will spur him on. He will also continue his role as man two in the team sprint, where Ed Clancy will replace Hoy in the man three role with Philip Hindes continuing as man one.
For the two-time Olympic team pursuit champion Clancy it will be a first appearance in the event and Kenny is excited at the prospect his teammate brings to the setup.
"There's every possibility we could end up going really, really fast in this combination," said Kenny, who has never been a world champion in the team event.
"Glasgow will be the first test and if we get round and do a half-decent time, hopefully by the time February comes round and the worlds we can be really up there.
"Hopefully we can move forward and get on top of the podium between now and Rio."
