A catch up with former Olympic gold medallist Katy Marchant.

In the latest of our big interview features, Lee Sobot catches up with Leeds golden girl and young mum of two Katy Marchant, the former Olympic Games and world champion track cyclist who announced her retirement this week at 33 years of age, fresh from competing at this summer's Commonwealth Games.

Congratulations on a brilliant career, Katy. Can you talk us through the decision to retire?

"I've done this for 13 years now. I'm 33 years old and I've achieved more than I could have ever dreamed of achieving. Inevitably I was going to retire at some point. I always just said, 'You'll know when you know, I don't really know what you'll know, but you'll just know'. And now I just know. I don't know, it just feels really strange. It's not been a difficult decision I don't think. Don't get me wrong, there have been moments where I thought, 'Could I just? Should I just?' 'What if I just?' But I know what it takes to push on for another two years (to the Olympics) and I'm incredibly proud of where I've got to and what I've done. I just want to make those choices anymore to keep doing what it takes to get to LA."

You had talked before the Commonwealths at having one last dance in LA so what has changed since and what was the catalyst for the decision where you decided I am not going to try for LA?

"I wasn't going into the Commonwealth Games thinking this could be it. Absolutely not. We spoke in June time and I was very set on it's short term goals. But it's short term for the long term always in what we do. I went into the Commonwealth Games and that was going to be a massive stepping stone to me. I had a day off at the Commonwealth Games on the Saturday, after two pretty successful days of bracing and I just had this funny feeling that I just felt something. I just felt something that I wasn't quite sure what it was so I spoke to my husband a little bit about it and I said to him 'look, I want you to listen, I don't want you to say anything, I am just going to tell you,' and then I started racing on the Sunday and it just kept and sat with me. Then in the middle of the day I actually spoke to Emma (Finucane) and told her what I was feeling, explained the feelings and I said 'look, if this is the last day that I'm racing ever, I want to flipping enjoy it and I want you to enjoy it with me'. Looking back now it was quite an iconic moment in the sense that we got to race the final and I made it into the Commonwealth Games final after what had been a pretty hard 12 months getting back to racing keirins after the crash that I had in 2024. And it just felt like all the stars were aligning. I honestly had the best day racing my bike as a keirin rider. I just really enjoyed it and I agreed with myself that I would come home and not make any rash decisions. We had a week off so I was going to sit on it a little bit, and just see if it remained the same. I half anticipated that I would get back home and think I'm ready to go back training, I'm ready to get back into it. But it just didn't come and I have just let it go."

What sort of memories do you leave with now then?

"Incredibly fond memories and that's something I always really wanted to do. I never wanted to walk away from this sport because I had to, because I felt like I'd overstayed my welcome or physically I wasn't capable anymore. I've written the story for the last 13 years and I wanted to finish it the way I wanted to finish. When we spoke before the Commonwealth Games I didn't anticipate this was how it was going to go. But the fact is that I'm sat here smiling about it and feeling like my overriding feeling is pride. I've given so much to this sport over the last 13 years. I've ridden the wave of all the highs and the lows and the different generations of the women's sprints programme and I've really been a part of something that I feel really privileged to be able to look back on and say I've been a part of and I'm really excited for the women's sprint programme as it's arguably one of the most successful best programmes to be a part of in the world. Yes there's a small part of me that's a little bit sad, that I'm not going to be a part of that anymore, but at the same time, I still carry a lot of pride that I've helped build that and been a part of building that and it's going to go on and carry on doing amazing things."

What do you consider as your biggest hits?

"Oh, gosh, it's a journey, and I think it's hard to fully pick the moments. I obviously started very naively going into my first Olympic Games, only a couple of years after getting on a bike and getting a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics was obviously a massive high so early on in my career. Then there was a period of time of around five or six years where there were minimal women on the sprint programme. I was the sole member of the women's sprint programme, I was the only member to go to Tokyo, I was the only member to go to Tokyo and not get a medal and that journey taught me so much. I grew a lot over those five years and that had a huge impact going forward when it came around to the next Olympic cycle. After having my second son Arthur, there was a whole host of women that were on the women's sprint programme, there were world champions on the programme. It was a team that I really, really wanted to be a part of and obviously Paris 2024, the whole of 2024 was an incredible year for me. I became European, Olympic and World Champion in the same year and the world record. That's what dreams are made of. But I wouldn't have been able to feel and be in that moment if I'd not have had the journey to get there. Yes, there are medals that I am proud of and yes, there are moments that I look back on and think that was cool. But for me, it's about the journey, and when you reflect, as I have done over the last few weeks it's who I am and how I've been as an athlete. I've always prided myself on professionalism and dedication, and just doing everything right. And I think that's helped been like a fundamental reason why the women's sprint programme is now so successful and in such a good place. It's lead by example and I feel incredibly honoured to have been able to semi-carry that a little bit, I guess, without really knowing."

Definitely. You have certainly been a huge part too of the Leeds sporting success story over the last decade or so - what has it meant being a part of that alongside the likes of the Brownlee brothers, Nicola Adams and obviously in cycling Lizzie Deignan? You have definitely helped keep the city on the map as it were?

"It's huge. I think it's something you don't always set out to do when you start doing these things. But now, actually, since, well, the last few weeks, I've really felt like I've been able to reflect a little bit on what has been my journey and what it's meant. I'm incredibly proud to have been able to do those things you know and hopefully pave the way for not just cyclists but mums in sport and to be able to achieve that and to do that twice, it's quite unheard of and to get back to a very, very competitive high level, I'm incredibly proud of myself. I hope people can watch that or learn from that and think that it is possible and it's worth doing."

From a cycling point of view we have gone from having both yourself and Lizzie Deignan still competing to both of you retiring and now we have none of you! It's going to leave a big gap. Have you spoke to Lizzie?

"It's been a privilege to be a part of such an incredible group of people. I've spent a couple of weeks trying not to speak to too many people and like take too many different opinions and things. This is something that I wanted to come to terms with myself and I'm sure there will be a point in my life where I want to ask for a little bit of advice, or for a little bit of support from those and Lizzie and those kind of people are the people that I will go to when the time is right."

Obviously it's road cycling which is different but next year the Tour De France comes to the UK and Yorkshire - what will that be like to see?

"It's absolutely huge and it's nice, eventually, to find myself on the other side of the fence. That I'm able to enjoy that for what it is. You have your blinkers on and are caught up in your own world when you're constantly focusing on the track. It's all about what is coming up next, the next thing and the next race. You're not actually able to sit back and reflect and look at the bigger picture and think, 'Wow, I'm part of and have been a part of something really incredible'. So yeah, it's exciting times and I'm really excited now to be able to sit on the other side of the fence a little bit, to see it for what it really is and stop thinking about myself for once!"

We know you are very proud of where you are and you'll be able to enjoy it a bit more in a different way now, what will you be doing?

"It's brilliant to be in the position that I'm feeling now, I'm not entirely sure what the future looks like for me. I'm not sat here telling you that the grass is greener and I'm moving on to this, or I'm moving on to that. I don't really know yet. I love high performance sport and I love what I've been a part of and I want to be able to continue to do that, especially for the area and keeping the legacy alive I guess so. I'm not entirely sure what's next for me but watch this space I reckon!"

Your husband is a farmer so shall we expect you to be getting on the tractor shall we say at home to help out with the harvest?

"Yeah, look, I'm a farmer's wife through and through and I will be forever so there's no doubt that that will be a part of my life and hopefully a bigger part of my life now I have a little bit more time, and hopefully for the boys as well, able to show them a little bit more of it. But look, I really don't know what's next for me. Yeah, I'll be driving the tractors through the summer, but I'll definitely need to find that thing for myself."

We have seen Sarah Storey do Strictly. Are you a reality TV type or more of a home person?

"I'm not the limelight kind of person. I like to just go about and lead by example. I guess I do massively believe I still have a lot to offer within sport and high performance so I'm not saying that I won't help or have capacity of something somewhere within high performance, whether that's cycling or perform high performance in general. But I like to be on the down low, I like to just go about daily life and I want to be able to enjoy doing things like taking the kids on the school run and taking them to swimming lessons and taking them to football and stuff. Whether that leads to something in the future where I'm able to tell my story a little bit more I'm not sure, but I currently have zero plans."

What do you want to be remembered for Katy?

"All of it, I guess. It's massively important to me how you present yourself day to day and I want people to miss me, miss having me around and know that I was a good person to have around, that I was a good person to train alongside and that I'm really versatile. I can offer a lot of different things. I was able to offer a lot of support to the girls as a group, I was able to offer a lot of experience, but I'm also quite a good motivator on a day-to-day basis and I want people to look back at my journey and see how I've grown over the last 13 years and put themselves on a journey to grow over however long their career may be as well. I'm really fortunate that I was able to do it for 13 years. I went through three full Olympic cycles in a high performance, high pressured environment, and I think I dealt with it pretty well. But that was because I've always been surrounded and supported by incredible people, like not just my own family and friends. But I've always been really good at making sure I was getting what I needed from the people at British Cycling and you've got to make the most of it. It's short-lived at the end of the day, 13 years is a long time but it's incredibly short in the grand scheme of things. I just feel really lucky to be in this position now and I hope people can look back at my career and take something forward into their own."

Just lastly Katy, let's finish with a word on the support you have had from the local area and the city of Leeds. What's that been like as everyone definitely gets behind their own here don't they?

"Massively so, we are built of different stuff aren't we?! But without being too cliché it really takes a village. I've always said I've been incredibly lucky to be supported and surrounded by the best of the best."