Britain’s double Olympic gold medalist Joanna Rowsell Shand has confirmed her retirement from international cycling.
After 10 years and two gold medals, 28-year-old track cyclist Joanna Rowsell Shand has announced her retirement.
Rowsell Shand, who is also a five-time world and four-time European champion, says she will now focus on a coaching career.
The British gold medallist will be taking part in the L’Etape du Tour in July, an amateur race covering the same route as part of the Tour de France.
Rowsell Shand began competitive cycling aged just 16, after the British Cycling Apprentice Programme talent spotted her.
She managed to bag her first world title in 2008 in a team pursuit, then went on to successfully defend the title a year later.
While in preparation for the Olympics, she set two new world records; at the 2011-12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup and the World Championships.
In 2012, Rowsell Shand won a third world title and later that same year went on to win an Olympic gold at the London 2012 Olympics, alongside Dani King and Laura Kenny. She was made an MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours, for services to cycling.
In 2013, Rowsell Shand broke her collarbone at the London Cycling festival but in just a mere five weeks, and with the aid of a pillow attached to the handlebars, she won the Women’s Pursuit at the International Belgian Open.
The cyclist then went on to complete the Olympic double in the Rio Velodrome alongside Kenny, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker.
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