Two-time Olympic gold medallist Phil Hindes has announced his retirement from the Great Britain Cycling Team after a successful 11 years on the squad.
Hindes carved his career as ‘man one’ in the Team Sprint event, winning gold in London 2012 with Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy and again in Rio 2016 with Kenny and Callum Skinner.
Representing Germany in his junior years, Hindes won medals on the world and European stage before switching to the Great Britain Cycling Team in 2010. From there, his progression resulted in selection to represent Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games and, at aged just 19, he was victorious in the team sprint event. Hindes went on back this up in Rio 2016, as well as having one world championship medal, two Commonwealth Games medals and nine world cup medals – all in the team sprint event – on his impressive palmares.
Phil Hindes said: “Being a member of the GBCT for so long has been incredible, and I have really lived and loved my career. My career highlights have to be my Olympic gold medals from London 2012 and Rio 2016, but also I’ve met some of my best friends on the team, and in cycling in general, so this has been the best bit of my cycling career.
“I will now be putting my dedication and drive into a new chapter of my life, starting a new career, and seeing where it takes me.
“I’d like to thank British Cycling for their support over the years and all the people that helped me on my journey, I owe a lot to them, and I can't thank them enough. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I think there’s plenty more to come from the men’s sprint team, and I’ll be cheering them on all the way to Paris 2024.”
Performance Director Stephen Park said: “A big congratulations to Phil on a fantastic cycling career. As well as his two Olympic gold medals, Phil can take pride in the fact he was indisputably the fastest man one team sprint rider in the world for a number of years. To sustain this level of power, speed and fitness for so long is remarkable and he can count himself as one of the GBCT’s most successful sprinters.
“In addition to as his achievements on the bike, what stands out for me about Phil is the professionalism and support he showed his teammates in Tokyo, where he was a reserve rider. Additionally, his mature attitude towards retirement and the drive he has shown to embark on a new career path is commendable and behalf of everyone on the team I wish him the best of luck.”