Katie Archibald retired in May after two Olympic golds, seven world titles and 21 European crowns.
Katie Archibald admits she lost the motivation that once drove her to Olympic glory and is finding a new sense of identity six months after bringing the curtain down on her glittering cycling career.
The 32-year-old retired in May after two Olympic golds, seven world titles and 21 European crowns. Her achievements will now be recognised with induction into the British Cycling Hall of Fame at the 2026 British Cycling Awards, presented by Lloyds, in Manchester this month.
However, returning to the cycling fold has brought mixed emotions for the Scot, after her sudden and shock retirement on the eve of a home Commonwealth Games.
The Glasgow rider said: “I was nervous about having the feeling that I would need to present the right image of somebody passionate about the sport. And I am, but you have it in your head that Katie the cyclist is a role model or ambassador and so you have to be the character.
“There’s something about the requirement that makes me nervous because I know that I was struggling so much with that, and that’s why I retired. It had become a pretence that I was still that person, because I was training begrudgingly and had lost that intrinsic drive, and struggled with the fact that I couldn’t say that publicly, because it sounds bad.
“The British Cycling Awards will be my first occasion of being a Katie the cyclist in a while. Perhaps I should stop referring to it as a separate identity, and that will help.”
Archibald quit cycling to focus on a new career in nursing and she is currently on placement as part of her studies at Glasgow Caledonian University. At the time of her retirement, Archibald said that it was the pull of purpose away from the track that fuelled her career change but now admits she also ran out of steam.
“Nursing is both the kind of thing that terrifies you and excites you,” she added. “I previously felt this big sense of purpose with cycling, I now feel it with my studies.”
Archibald’s medal count stands out as one of the most impressive the sport has ever seen, while her time on the women’s team pursuit squad during one of the most pivotal periods of growth for female British endurance cycling will go down in history.
She was part of the quartet that won Olympic gold at Rio 2016, before adding the Madison title in Tokyo five years later. She was due to compete at a third Games in Paris but a freak foot injury after tripping in the garden ruled her out.
Archibald’s legacy is not just confined to the track. Throughout her 13-year-long career, she was one of the biggest advocates for change in women’s sport, and with the continued progression in grassroots sport for young girls and systematic shifts to a unified team dynamic, it is change that she continues to enjoy.
And while she has nurtured the new generation of female endurance cyclists, with Erin Boothman and Maddie Leech both citing her as inspiration, the trainee nurse was coy about just how much she felt she could pass on in a changing environment.
“The gap between myself and Maddie and Erin reflects a massive shift that’s happened to the professionalism in women’s cycling,” she said.
“When 19-year-olds started getting professional contracts, the environment changed so radically that my place to advise that 19-year-old on how their career should go, was just nothing.
“They were living in a different world to what I was at that point in my career. But that is what I really love about the entire British Cycling setup, because the strength is in the team.”
The British Cycling Awards presented by Lloyds is celebrating those inspiring individuals who have brought the joy of cycling to communities across the country, through their performance on the global stage, to their tireless work at grassroots level. See how you can join the movement of cycling by visiting britishcycling.org.uk