Katy Marchant is in the form of her life after returning from the birth of her first child, says former track teammate Jo Rowsell.

Leeds star Marchant has been selected for her third Olympic Games, and first after having her son Arthur in June 2022.

The 31-year-old won bronze in Rio and claimed a first European title in Apeldoorn earlier this year in a sign of things to potentially come.

“After Tokyo she got married, had a baby and her son is now two years old,” Rowsell, who'll be working with Eurosport and discovery+ for their Olympics cycling coverage, said.

“She is just in the form of her life, and I’ve seen her training recently and she just looks the best she’s looked for a really long time.

“She is putting out fantastic times and she is just like a new rider. 

“I think it has been a breath of fresh air having the young riders coming through, challenging her.

“She is by no means settled in the squad because we have got so much strength in depth, there is a lot of fight for those places in the squad and that has kept everybody fresh.

“And the experience she has got of having been at two Olympic Games previously, having won a medal previously will just help the younger ones.”

Marchant is joined on the women’s sprint team by reigning individual sprint world champion Emma Finucane, and Sophie Capewell.

Both will be making their Games debut in Paris, and while Marchant has bags of experience, she will also be riding in the team sprint for the first time.

Team GB have not qualified a team sprint team for the each of Marchant’s previous Olympic appearances, but now head to Paris as the world silver medallists in the event.

Rowsell, who won two track cycling golds at London 2012 and Rio 2016, said, “Katy came onto the GB team in 2013 on the back of being a heptathlete.

“And she showed really good power output on the watt bike and went to Rio and won a bronze medal.

“She surprised everybody and most of all herself with that performance. Behind the scenes we knew how well she was going in training. 

“But that cycle to Tokyo was a really tough one, she was really the only GB sprinter going out and doing the qualifying events, it was quite a long slog for her and no team event. 

“She has spoken about going and doing a five-week training camp in Australia with her and five boys, she was the only female representative so she has flown the flag solo for a long time.”

Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics