Aileen McGlynn retires from cycling after career which saw her reach top

Record breaking Paralympic star Aileen McGlynn is set to retire from cycling after a career which saw her reach the top of the sport.

The three-time Paralympic champion announced on Tuesday she would quit the sport, but said despite hanging up her skinsuit and tubulars she now wanted to get out on her bike for fun.

The 49-year-old, who has been partially sighted from birth, said: “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and at some point you’ve got to move on and do other things.

“I feel like I’ve achieved everything I wanted to in cycling, the opportunity to come back and do a really good time in Tokyo and win a silver medal, I could have finished my career at that point.”

But the Paisley-born cyclist’s final competitive foray instead came at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, where she represented Team Scotland and bagged silver and bronze in the tandem sprint and tandem 1k time trial.

“I’m pretty pleased and proud of what I’ve achieved. I’m particularly pleased that I’ve carried on to the age of 49 and broken down barriers in terms of age,” she said.

“I came back faster, stronger and with better power numbers in 2021 in Tokyo, so I’ve proved myself, I’ve proved my longevity.

“I’m also really pleased with the world records I’ve set in the past, and the medals I’ve won at Paralympic level – three gold, three silver and a bronze – I’m really happy with what I’ve done and the experiences I’ve had. ”

During her time cycling competitively, she had competed right across the world, in a career she described as “lifechanging”.

And not only has she won Paralympic and World titles, she has set records and been made an OBE for services to disability sports.

She added: “I’m really glad I’ve done this for the last 20 years – it’s been hard, but it’s been very rewarding too.”

It would have been a very different career if she had not joined the Glenmarnock Wheelers at the age of 18, where she combined cycling with studying for a degree in Mathematics, Statistics and Management Science at the University of Strathclyde.

Going on to ride for Johnstone Wheelers and the Royal Albert Cycling Club, McGlynn’s promise started to develop into world class performances, none more so than her first world record set at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, where she would take gold in the 1km time trial and silver in the individual pursuit alongside pilot Ellen Hunter.

And she did this while working as a trainee actuary in Glasgow.

She then won her first world title in the 2006 championships in Switzerland, where she set a world record time in the Kilo, before going on to take a second Paralympic title in Beijing, lowering the Kilo world record time, before adding a second gold to her haul in the individual pursuit.

She went on to win even more medals at Paralympic, World, and Commonwealth levels, including the silver in kilo and bronze in the individual pursuit at the London 2012 games.

Now retirement has come, there are no plans for her to sit at a desk all day now she has quit cycling, she said, and will continue being a property landlord as she has done since 2013.

“That has given me the flexibility to carry on with my training, whilst still earning a living, so that’s basically what I’ll continue to do,” she said.

But she will not be saying goodbye to her bike forever.

“I just want to go out and enjoy riding my bike for fun now, with cycling holidays and things like that,” she said.

“I want to ride my bike more and for longer distances, maybe doing some cycle touring too.

“I also want to do other things and I’ve already planned a couple of skiing holidays.”