It will be another successful summer in the Olympic velodrome for Team GB, with four track cycling medals already secured.
Great Britain’s cyclists have one gold, two silver and one bronze medal to show for their time in Paris so far, with the women’s sprint team starting the celebrations after reaching the podium earlier in the this week. That gold medal was the first of three that could have been won by Emma Finucane from Great Britain herself, who has already made a big surprise during her Olympic Games.
The 21-year-old from Carmarthen is regarded as British cycling’s next superstar and entered the Games as the reigning world sprint champion. She is the seventh woman from Wales to win Olympic gold and with the distance and individual sprint medals still to come, she could make Olympic history as the first British woman to win three golds at one Games.
READ MORE: Jade Jones was left on her knees after a shock first round win and her Olympic gold dream over
READ MORE: The Team GB Olympic star has been forced to fly home and immediately return to a full-time day job
Finucane is through to Thursday’s keirin quarter-final and could be competing for gold just a few hours later. All eyes will be on the Welsh star, especially if she manages to reach the final, with the likes of Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy trying to catch her.
Here’s everything you need to know about the young woman who could be Britain’s star at the Games.
Getting started
Finucane is very proud of her Irish roots, having been born and raised in Carmarthen. After returning to her home town shortly before the Olympics, she told WalesOnline how her career began on the town’s historic concrete velodrome as a young girl.
“My first bike was bright pink,” she said “It had the tassle, the sparkly pink helmet, the whole works. I remember we got it from Halfords. But that’s how I started out, riding around here on my bike small, just I love it indeed I want to keep now!
“Cycling kind of took over a bit more and became more serious. I had to travel to Newport a few times a week, which is an hour and a half drive and I had to stop running and swimming and I started sticking with this. out a little more with my sister and brother.
Having started her cycling career with local club Towy Riders with Rosie at the age of eight, within two years Finucane had switched to the track. Although her potential was recognized in sprints, it was in endurance races that she found her first taste of glory as she commanded the attention of the Great Britain cycling team, who encouraged her to take part in their national programme.
From there, she won many medals at junior level, including European junior gold in the 500m TT and world sprint silver in 2019 and, from there, her career took off.
“When I won my first European title, I was like, ‘Oh, I could be good!’,” she said.
The pressure of competition
After bursting onto the scene as a teenager, Finucane’s talents were clear but as the expectations grew, she had to learn to deal with the pressures of competition.
In her interview with WalesOnline, she admitted she was “so overjoyed” to make her Commonwealth Games debut in 2022, and also revealed she broke down crying in the toilets before she won gold in last year’s World Championships sprint final.
“When you’re so close to gold, it’s very difficult sometimes,” she told the BBC. “I wanted it so bad … and before the final, I was so nervous. Everything built up, the height of the pressure.”
Adding that crying helped her “get it out,” she said: “I got back there and ran and literally left everything on the road”.
Cyclist boy
Finucane is believed to be still in contact with Dutch rider Casper van Uden, who currently rides for Team DSM.
It is not known how long the couple have been together, as their relationship has been kept out of the spotlight, but the Welsh star spoke about the difficulties of balancing cycling in an interview with Cycling Weekly last year.
“Sprinting is short-lived: I ride for 45 seconds at most,” she said. “It can be hard to mentally get my head around that, to put myself up for such a short distance, but I just have to give it my all for those 45 seconds.
“It’s also hard not seeing my boyfriend and my family, but other than that it’s great to be a full-time athlete.”
Praise from legends
Wales and Great Britain are behind Finucane as she bids for Olympic history in Paris and she has already secured the support of three of Team GB’s greatest ever cyclists.
Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hoy and Laura Kenny have already earned praise, with the former claiming she is “on the verge of becoming a global superstar”.
After the Welsh star claimed gold in the women’s team sprint on Monday, double Olympic gold medalist Pendleton told the BBC: “I think Emma is going to be a massive star. She’s so young and so successful and she’s very forward-thinking and very calm and confident.
“Since I saw her race for the first time I felt like she has almost a sixth sense about racing, it comes so naturally to her, she seems to have that awareness.”
Hoy, a seven-time Olympic champion, said: “Emma Finucane is the one star you have to keep an eye on. She could win the women’s keirin. She could be a three-time Olympic champion and this is her first Olympics. I don’t want to put too much pressure on her, but she has a chance.”
Meanwhile, Kenny described Finucane as “unrealistic,” adding: “I keep saying it and then I keep thinking ‘don’t say it because you put pressure on her’, but honestly I could she’s the first woman to win three gold medals at one Olympics, and she’s only 21. So you have to watch her.”