Laura Kenny breastfed her baby daughter Lily after completing the London Marathon on Sunday to raise money for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust.
The Olympic cyclist, 34, – who is married to fellow cycling phenomenon Jason – miscarried in November 2021 and had an ectopic pregnancy five months later.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised egg grows outside of the womb – usually in one of the fallopian tubes – requiring emergency surgery.
Laura Kenny has three children with Jason: Albie, eight, Monty, four, and Lily, 12 months.
She ran the marathon for the cause ‘so close to our hearts’ and in her Instagram after the race shared a snap nursing her little ones.
Laura penned in the caption of her post: ‘LONDON MARATHON – completed it ? Not even going to pretend I enjoyed it because I absolutely did not! Got round in 3.45 after a typical Laura pacing job.
‘But I ran for a cause SO close to our hearts @ectopicpregnancy and I will continue to shout about them and share our story because we can now help other people.
Laura Kenny breastfed her baby daughter Lily after completing the London Marathon on Sunday to raise money for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust
She ran the marathon for the cause ‘so close to our hearts’ and in her Instagram after the race shared a snap nursing her little ones
‘Didn’t take any of the usual photos because who knew that was a thing. So here’s me after media and 20 mins after finishing… Of course feeding Lily.’
After the race she spoke to Stylist about the ‘never-ending grief’ she felt after her ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage.
She told how the losses put huge strain on her marriage and that communication between her and Jason ‘became horrendous’.
Laura told the publication: ‘In the weeks and months after the ectopic pregnancy, I stopped talking. I don’t throw around the word depression a lot, but it was absolutely the lowest I’ve ever felt in my life.
‘That’s when our relationship was at its weakest. We were arguing constantly over stupid things like not unloading the dishwasher because we were both finding it too difficult to express how we really felt.’
The pair then had to have ‘one of the hardest, most horrible conversations’ they’ve ever had, as Laura explained that while her life and health were at risk, Jason had ‘lost those babies too’.
She said: ‘We agreed to plant a tree, a rosebush with a little angel plaque on it, next to Albie’s playroom to try to draw a line under this never-ending grief.’
In the UK around one in every 90 pregnancies is ectopic – the equivalent of around 11,000 per year.
While it is still unclear why they occur, inflammation and scar tissue in the fallopian tubes can increase the risk.
During a chat with Women’s Health in 2024, Laura opened up about how the heartbreak of her miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy completely changed her mindset and she was left wanting a baby over any sporting medal.
The cyclist, who announced her retirement from the sport back in March 2024, confessed she found herself frustrated with her body as she could her push herself to incredible physical heights, yet she couldn’t have a baby.
She told the publication: ‘I cannot tell you how sad I was for a year to 18 months. I mean, you could ask Jase how I was, I was a different person.
‘I just went within myself because it was consuming. And all I wanted was this little baby; I didn’t want gold medals, you know, I didn’t want to go and race in the Commonwealth Games. I wanted a baby. And it just wasn’t happening.’
Before the birth of her second son and a year after her ectopic pregnancy Laura won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but admitted she didn’t find happiness in the win.
Laura penned in the caption of her post: ‘LONDON MARATHON – completed it ? Not even going to pretend I enjoyed it because I absolutely did not! Got round in 3.45 after a typical Laura pacing job’
She added: ‘But I ran for a cause SO close to our hearts @ectopicpregnancy and I will continue to shout about them and share our story because we can now help other people’
In May 2025 the pair welcomed their third child Lily. ‘Our beautiful little family is complete’, she said at the time
After the race she spoke to Stylist about the ‘never-ending grief’ she felt after her ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage (seen with husband Jason)
She explained: ‘I was like, why will [my body] do that and it won’t do the one thing that I just want the most…
‘I felt like I was living in this yin and yang world where you could only have one of them.
‘And when you’re an athlete who has had so much control over their body for so long, it literally just felt like the carpet had been ripped out from underneath me because all of a sudden I wasn’t in control of it, and there was nothing that I could do.’
While she added that she doesn’t want to label her sadness at the time as depression, she confessed: ‘I’d hate to put a label on myself, but that was the lowest I’ve been – 100 per cent. It was mentally the toughest period of my life.’
Laura also opened up about how the miscarriage affected her husband.
‘No one asked him if he was okay, and how he was feeling,’ she explained.
‘And so I guess I totally underestimated how much I was using him and how much I was talking to him and never actually saying, ‘Jase, are you actually okay yourself?’
‘And it wasn’t until quite a long time after that…he could even tell me how bad it was for him, too.’
Back in March 2024 Laura explained she had made the decision to hang up her bike after struggling to spend time away from her children and the sacrifice of leaving her family at home.
Speaking about the struggle of balancing both elite sport and motherhood she admitted that it is doable but it comes with sacrifice, and she wasn’t at her best for the Tokyo Olympics.
‘It it comes with sacrifice. And you’ve got to be prepared for a non-perfect build-up…do I think I went into Tokyo absolutely 100 per cent at my best? No, of course I don’t.
‘Because rest days weren’t rest days and any time I was at home, I wasn’t sat on the sofa like Jase and I used to be. I was out on the trampoline, I was playing in the sandpit…So do I think it was harder? Yes. [But] it doesn’t need to be incompatible.’
Discussing the birth of her second child, Monty, Laura said he completely changed her mindset as an athlete.
She explained: ‘I felt so privileged to be able to have been pregnant again and then bring him into the world [that] I was just struggling to leave him.
‘I couldn’t leave him for training sessions because, why would I? All I wanted was him.’
Laura has previously admitted she left her son Albie at home due to Covid protocols during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and found it ‘heart-wrenching’.
‘I’m not really a crier…and the only time that Albie ever remembers Mummy crying is when I had to leave him to go to the Olympics.
‘And it just felt like someone literally ripped my heart out and was just throwing it away. It was awful. I remember messaging Jase when I was in the [Athletes’] Village, just saying, ‘I hope that I never feel like this again’.’
In May 2025 the pair welcomed their third child Lily. ‘Our beautiful little family is complete’, she said at the time.
If you need specialist support now, visit baby loss charity Tommy’s.