By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - 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 managed to keep a relatively low profile.
That could all change in Paris where she could potentially match Kenny's medal haul if she wins the team pursuit, her favourite event the Madison and the multi-faceted omnium in which Kenny was twice Olympic champion.
"I think now I can recognise a lot of the pressure that Laura's been saddled with her entire career because she had such high-level success so young," Archibald said.
"She's Britain's most successful female Olympian and she was at that level from the age of 20."
WEIGHED HEAVILY
"I know the expectation from coaches and team mates weighed heavily. That's something that I benefited from, that she had taken that pressure and so I could exist without that pressure.
"Now she's moved into a different realm and it's something that I hadn't reflected on as a loss until now and that pressure can feel quite daunting. But pressure is a privilege right?
"I'm grateful I learned so much from her in a way that she never benefited from because she stepped into a team without a precedent. There was no Laura Kenny before Laura Kenny."
Archibald said the words of her late partner Rab Wardell will help her in the intense months ahead. Wardell died from cardiac arrest, aged 37, in August 2022 days after becoming Scottish mountain bike champion.
"He said if a job is worth doing it's worth having a good time while you do it," Archibald said. "If I can celebrate his legacy by sometimes having a bit of a laugh, that's best."
While equalling fellow Scot Chris Hoy's three track cycling golds from the 2008 Olympics is a tall order, Archibald has been a world champion in each of the three disciplines and appears focused on making history.
"The fact that most days I do think it's perhaps unattainable doesn't mean it's not worth chasing," she said.
"In Rio it was the team pursuit, in Tokyo it was an extra bite with the madison and that kind of opened the door to how this goal could happen.
"I have an opportunity and if I don't do that justice it will be down to my own actions. It's in my hands to do this."