Sarah Storey retires at 48: ‘It’s always about leaving something better than you found it’

Sarah Storey won 19 golds in nine Paralympic Games – her first was Barcelona in 1992 – including in four consecutive road races, in London, Rio, Tokyo and Paris. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

“This is the first time that I will speak about the next chapter,” Dame Sarah Storey says in a quiet corner of a busy cafe in Macclesfield as, after a remarkable career in which she won 74 world and Paralympic medals as the most successful British athlete, she prepares to announce her retirement from elite competition. It’s a seismic moment for Storey and for Paralympic sport but the 48-year-old is in a relaxed and cheerful mood.

“I’ve always shied away from the word ‘retirement’ because as an athlete you have to plan for the next chapter,” she says. “It certainly isn’t doing nothing and sitting with your feet up. I started planning for what life might look like as soon as I became an international athlete.