Doncaster cycling academy founder Ed Clancy aims to join elite list of British Olympians

Ed Clancy, right, with Graham Briggs and youngsters at the Doncaster cycle track.

Three-time Olympic champion Clancy – the most successful team pursuit rider in history – would join an elite club of GB athletes should he win gold again in Tokyo.

Only Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Ben Ainslie and Sir Bradley Wiggins have won gold medals at four successive Games.

Clancy teamed up with his pal Graham Briggs, Doncaster’s leading professional cyclist, to launch the Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy at the cycle track adjacent to the Dome in 2019 as a way of giving back to the sport and passing on the joy of cycling to as many kids as possible.

Youngsters at the academy – which is set to branch out at a new venue near Huddersfield later this year – are gearing up to watch their teacher in action in Monday’s heats. The team pursuit final is on Wednesday.

Denmark, who became 2020 world champions in a world record time, are favourites for the gold medal but Barnsley-born Clancy and Team GB are hopeful of a podium finish.

"I think they’ve got a good chance of a medal,” Briggs told the Free Press.

“Ed said before he went away they’d done all the testing and they were in a much better position as a team than if the Olympics had been held last year, so they were looking forward to it.

“It’s brilliant for the kids that they’ll get to see him competing at the Olympics one week and then the next week he will be coaching at Doncaster. It’s inspirational for them. At the holiday camps this week they’ve been asking about how he’s doing and things like that. They’re all excited.

“It’d be great if he could get some medal of some colour, I think he’d be happy with that.

"We’ll have a party for him when he comes back and it’d be great if he was able to bring along another medal.

“Ed’s such a down to earth character, you wouldn’t think he had three gold medals,” he added.

"He’s a super nice guy and a great guy for the kids to learn from.”

For more information about the Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy click HERE.