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Emma Finucane became the first British woman in 60 years to win three medals at a single Olympic Games last week.
The 21-year-old track sprinter won gold in the team sprint, alongside Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, bronze in the keirin, and bronze in the individual sprint, putting her on the podium in each of her events. Her medal haul makes her the first British female cyclist to win three medals at a Games, a feat she accomplished on debut.
“I can’t believe I’ve made history,” Finucane said afterwards, swarmed by the press inside the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome. “I’m just going to enjoy it.”
In Paris, the media paid close attention to the sprinter as she raced through the rounds, particularly after she was tipped to win three golds by Laura Kenny.
Asked how she might now deal with the spotlight of being a triple medallist, her Team GB performance director, Stephen Park, said: “I think she will deal with it well.”
“There’s no doubt Emma Finucane is a superstar,” he continued. “At 21, three medals, she’s easily got two or three more Games left in her. Every day, Emma has talked about how much she’s enjoyed being at the Games, every race she’s smiling, win or lose, through the racing.”
The Welshwoman has experienced a rapid rise to becoming Olympic champion. Her first championship appearance with the GB sprint squad came in late 2022, and the following summer, she went on to win a maiden world title. She then followed that up by becoming European sprint champion in January this year, before winning three events at a Nations Cup meet in Hong Kong.
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Sophie Capewell, Katy Marchant, and Emma Finucane celebrate becoming Olympic champions in Paris.
(Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix)
“I’m really, really happy for Emma,” said her teammate, Marchant, ten years her senior, with whom she shared a room in Paris. “I absolutely love her to bits. She’s inspired me so much throughout my journey in getting back into bike racing. She relit that fire for me, I guess. I’m so happy and proud of her.
“This is just the start of a phenomenal career for her. I guess I’m on the flip side of that, but it’s so great to be alongside that. We push each other every day in training, and she’s an absolutely ace person to be around.”
As Finucane has worked her way up through the ranks, she has made no secrets of the fact that she idolised Victoria Pendleton growing up. The former GB sprinter watched the racing inside the velodrome in Paris, and went to congratulate the 21-year-old after her third place in the keirin.
“I just wanted to say, and to Katy as well, how wonderful they both are, and how proud I was to see the women’s side of the sprint programme making a place for themselves,” Pendleton told Cycling Weekly.
“The first time I saw [Finucane] race a few years back, I remember thinking she had a lot of potential, kind of like Jason Kenny, a sixth sense for her awareness and sprinting. I feel like she’s going to win loads of world titles.
“Just to gain the confidence and the assertiveness to dictate what happens [in a race], takes a bit of time, but she’s already getting there at 21, which blows my mind a little bit. I think she’s got great things ahead of her.”
The two-time gold medallist was also keen to stress the performance of Finucane’s teammate Capewell on her Paris debut. “Basically, in that team sprint, she pulled it back,” Pendleton said. “She was phenomenal. Her second lap was insane. I feel like you always talk about the person at the start and the person at the end, and forget that bit in the middle totally turned that ride around.
“It’s just so nice to see the women sprinters having such a strong team.”
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