Katy Marchant aiming for ‘one last dance’ at Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 as sprinter returns from lengthy layoff

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Katy Marchant has returned to competitive cycling with an appearance at the British Track Championships, just over a year after a horror crash sent her over the barriers and into the crowd. The British sprinter has also taken time off to give birth to her second child, but now has her sights firmly set on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as her comeback begins in earnest.

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Katy Marchant is back cycling competitively just 15 months after a huge crash saw her launched into the crowd, resulting in a broken arm and dislocated fingers.

That crash took place when she was competing in the keirin at the UCI Track Champions League at Lee Valley VeloPark in London in December 2024.

The British Olympic champion’s lengthy layoff was also a result of her expanding her family, Marchant giving birth to her second son last year. But now she is back, and her targets are clear.

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"I’m really happy to be back racing – earlier than expected, I think, but things have been going really well and relatively smoothly," Marchant said, as reported by Cycling Weekly.

"Physically it’s harder to have two children than it is to have one, and obviously my body has taken a bit of a hit from having another baby, but I’ve recovered really well...

"I’m back training and I feel great. I’m not where I need to be – I’m a million miles away from where I was when I left the sport in 2024… But I feel more confident this time."

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Marchant returned at the British Track Championships just six months after the birth of her son Walter, and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the individual sprint.

But the result mattered less than the fact she has made it back to competitive cycling, with two and a half years to go until the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

Marchant won gold at Paris 2024 with Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell in the team sprint, and finished fourth in the keirin.

"I’ve been really lucky in the last 12 years I’ve done this; I’ve never really had many accidents, [only] a couple of slip and slides," she added.

"It was a little bit unfortunate for the Track Champs to end like that, especially because it was the last race of what had been an incredible year in 2024."

But her return to the velodrome last week showed she is suffering no bad memories from that crash, and instead is fully focused on the next Olympic cycle.

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Her fellow gold medallists from Paris, Finucane and Capewell are still in their 20s, whereas Marchant will be 35-years-old by the time LA28 rolls around. But she believes she still has more to give:

"I’m here to eke out every last bit that I can. It’d be really nice to just maybe have one last dance at the Olympics," she said.

"I could retire tomorrow with the most amazing career and more than I could have ever dreamed of, but I never want to retire and say, ‘What if?’

"I want to push every boundary that I can. The girls have got a great team going on, and I really want to be in that team."

Watch and stream the 2026 cycling season - including the Tour de France in July - live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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