Welsh teenager follows lead of Olympic great Kenny

Welsh track cyclist Ioan Hepburn is aiming high in his next four-year cycle after ending the last one with two world titles.

From being talent-spotted at an agricultural show in 2022 to competing at his first Commonwealth Games this summer, the 18-year-old signed off his junior career in stunning fashion.

Hepburn won silver in the team sprint at the recent World Junior Track Cycling Championships, alongside Charlie Holt and Kristian Larigo, then added individual sprint and keirin gold in Belgium.

He is now moving up to Manchester to train full-time with Great Britain.

"I will be one of the youngest there; I definitely won't be the slowest there as well," Hepburn said with a smile.

The smile is justified after the year the teenager has had.

He became the fastest British junior over the 200m flying time trial at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, posting a record time of 9.807 seconds during the men's sprint qualifying.

For context, cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy broke the Olympic record in 2008 with a time of 9.815 seconds.

It was all the more impressive given that the ride came just two days after Hepburn was forced to withdraw from the team sprint bronze medal race at the start line.

Though thrilled to break the British record, Hepburn, from Monmouthshire, had wanted more.

"I really got my head down at the start of the year; it was a pretty hard, long winter of training," he said.

"If I'm being honest, I was hungry for the world [junior] record (9.738s), but for something like that to happen, everything has to align; conditions on the track and everything.

"To walk away with a new [British] junior record, I was absolutely over the moon."

While Hepburn failed to make it through the repechage in the keirin in Glasgow, and bowed out of the men's sprint in the last 16, he triumphed in both events at the World Junior Track Cycling Championships in Limburg just three weeks later.

The last Briton to do that sprint double? Seven-time Olympic gold medallist and GB cycling's men's sprint coach Sir Jason Kenny, who achieved the feat in 2006.

Hepburn will now learn from the most decorated British Olympian and cannot wait to "get stuck in" in Manchester.

"I'm looking forward to getting up there, learning from some of the senior riders who have been to the Olympic Games and trying to copy their practices and apply my own touch to them," he said.

Hepburn's passion for cycling was ignited at eight when he raced downhill mountain bikes, inspired by France's six-time world champion Loic Bruni.

A serious crash at 13 led to Hepburn losing a kidney, but he returned to ride a bike only three months later on Boxing Day 2021.

Resilience and bouncing back have always been part of Hepburn's makeup, as proved by his exploits this summer.

His current sporting hero lies closer to home, having been in the velodrome as Wales team-mate Emma Finucane set Commonwealth records by earning four sprint golds.

"It's pretty inspiring to look at where she came from at her first Commonwealth Games," Hepburn said.

"They [Emma Finucane, Lowri Thomas and Rhian Edmunds] finished third, and we finished fourth [Hepburn, Steffan Lloyd and Lewis Oliva].

"If I could do a similar thing in four years, that would be absolutely amazing."

The fourth place gives building blocks for Hepburn and Wales, who entered a men's sprint team for the first time at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

"To set a really respectable time and make it to the bronze medal ride exceeded all of our expectations," said Hepburn. "We're just hungry for the next four years."

So what are Hepburn's goals for the next four-year cycle and beyond?

"The dream would be winning a medal in team sprint at the next Commonwealth Games and winning a medal in the individual sprint as well," he said.

"I've won two world [junior] golds; the next goal would be two Olympic golds. That would be really special. That's not going to come easily.

"It's a really tight, fast team in Manchester, but if I can just keep doing what I'm doing, hopefully the legs will do the same."

Four years on from being convinced to convert to the track, Hepburn's decision seems justified.

"Back-to-back days of racing, they're definitely hard. Late nights, early mornings, but we love it, and it's what we're there for," he said.

"The support through Beicio Cymru and Team Wales has been absolutely vital for me to be able to progress in these four years to being able to win two world titles.

"To have the highs of Commonwealth Games, carry that into Worlds and then come away with two golds, it's more than I could have dreamed for."