I want to be sporting role model not sex symbol, says Laura Trott

Cycling star Laura Trott has told how she rejects attempts to portray her as a sex symbol because she is determined to be a sporting role model for young girls.

The double Olympic champion revealed that events such as the Sexiest Women in the World awards ceremony, which she turned down an invitation to, are a “no-go” because she wants to focus on her role as an athlete.

The 21-year-old admitted there is “pressure to fulfil a certain image” but claimed that it does not appeal to her. Her comments come after the Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester at the weekend where she won gold in the women’s ominium and the team pursuit — in which Trott and team-mates Dani King, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell knocked a staggering seven seconds off their previous world record.

“For all the benefits of being in the public eye, there is the odd downside too. Twitter goes mad sometimes with people saying weird stuff. It is a bit strange, but you can just ignore them. It is not even worth getting worked up about. But to a certain extent, there is a pressure to fulfill a certain image,” she wrote in today’s Daily Telegraph.

“Earlier this year I was asked to attend an awards ceremony for the Sexiest Women in the World. That was just a no-go for me. That whole other side of things just does not appeal to me. I do sport because I like being an athlete. I want to inspire young girls to get on their bikes, and I just believe there is a certain way of doing that, a certain way that I want to be seen.”

However, Trott, who grew up in Hertfordshire, but now lives in Stockport with her boyfriend, fellow double cycling Olympic champion Jason Kenny, 25, said that she has never experienced any inequality on the track. She said: “I get asked to comment a lot on inequality in cycling, but for me it has never been an issue. Everything has always been equal on the track, and the male and female riders are all part of the same team and we all mix freely.”