Cycling legend Chris Hoy reflects on terminal cancer diagnosis and ‘unimaginable’ 2024

Sir Chris Hoy has described 2024 as being “unimaginable” and that he is currently in the “best shape I’ve been in for over a year”.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, the six-time Olympic cycling champion gave an update on his treatment for terminal cancer.

Hoy told Geraint Hughes he has now digested the news and has found a new purpose.

“For me, my purpose is spreading awareness about it, trying to get men to go and get checked,” he said.

“It’s a very simple thing to deal with if you catch it early enough.

“I realise how far I’ve come now. There’s no way I could have sat here talking to you six months ago. I would have been a gibbering wreck.

“The overall hope was that it would help people, not just people going through a cancer diagnosis.

“But that you can get through the most extreme situations and pop out the other end, whilst you still have hope and are able to live your life.”

Hoy’s doctors have told him he has between two and four years to live.

“I’m doing well. The best shape I’ve been in for over a year. I’m physically not in any pain at all,” he added.

“Treatment has worked really well, everything is stable and I couldn’t have responded better to it.

“So basically in the current situation – the best-case scenario – I’m very grateful.

“It’s been an unimaginable year. Eighteen months ago, if you told me this is what was coming up, you couldn’t have imagined it, but that’s life, isn’t it?

“You get curveballs. It’s how you deal with it, and how you make a plan and move forward.

“I’ve been so lucky to have genuinely amazing people around me, from family, friends, medical support, the general public.”

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Hoy returned to the subject of trying to help others avoid being in the situation he is in with his cancer diagnosis.

“It should be an annual check, I believe. An automatic thing you do, you get it done and it’s not a big deal,” he said.

“A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a blood test to see if there is any cancer activity in your prostate.

“There’s complications with it so it’s not always black and white, but currently it’s the best or the only way we can screen for it.

“There’s an online risk checker at Prostate Cancer UK you can use.”

Hoy is set to make his first visit to the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace over the festive season.

He will be urging the players to be on top form, hitting as many 180s and nine-darters as possible.

Sky Sports’ coverage of the World Darts Championship is sponsored by Paddy Power, which is donating £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 thrown during the tournament, plus £60,000 for every nine-darter.