ANTICIPATION rarely surrounds the Olympic debut of a 21-year-old, but Emma Finucane is no ordinary young woman. The track cyclist is already a world champion in the women’s sprint, the youngest British woman to achieve this and only the third after Victoria Pendleton and Becky James. Both Pendleton and James went on to accomplish remarkable feats at the Olympics, and as the track cycling events commence in Paris, hopes are high for Finucane.
Over the next seven days, Finucane will compete in the women’s team sprint, the individual sprint, and the keirin, with three Olympic gold medals at stake. So, how did she become one of Team GB’s standout athletes?
It all began at Carmarthen Velodrome in 2011, an outdoor track in Carmarthen Park, built in 1900 and considered one of the oldest velodromes in the world. Eight-year-old Emma would go there with her sister Rosie and brother Sean, initially riding with pink tassels hanging from her handlebars. Before long, she began training and racing with the local cycling club, Towy Riders.
“I remember her first race,” recalls her father, Rory. “You could see then that she enjoyed it so much; it made her competitive. She put a lot of effort in and was really keen.” Her mother, Susie, adds, “She just enjoyed racing. She didn’t mind if the weather was bad. It was the speed too – she always liked to go fast.”
Her success seemed inevitable. After training at the National Velodrome of Wales in Newport, British Cycling noticed Finucane in 2018. By 2019, at just 16, she became European junior champion in the 500m time trial, earning silver medals in the sprint and team sprint.
Then, in 2020, the Covid pandemic struck. Finucane returned home to Wales, training as best she could during lockdown. Eventually, she received special dispensation to train at the velodrome that summer, a testament to her potential as a talented teenager.
This kept her on course for her first major senior championships: the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Team Wales, with Finucane, Lowri Thomas, and Rhian Edmunds, finished ahead of England and beat Australia to win a brilliant bronze in the women’s team sprint. Finucane, who had advised her family not to buy tickets for the medal races, unexpectedly reached the semi-finals in the individual sprint, narrowly losing to Canada’s Olympic champion, Kelsey Mitchell. Her parents managed to secure tickets for the bronze medal match, where she beat England’s Sophie Capewell, now her British Cycling teammate, for her second bronze of the Games.
The following summer marked her breakthrough. Finucane set a new sea-level world record over 200m on her way to winning the women’s sprint world title, becoming Britain’s first female sprint world champion since Becky James a decade earlier. Earlier this year, she won the European women’s sprint title, along with silver medals in the team sprint and keirin, marking the best performance by a British sprinter – male or female – at a European Championships.
This journey explains the great anticipation surrounding her. Yet, for Finucane herself, her results won’t define her first Olympics. “Looking back at the 10-year-old me always has a special place in my heart,” she says. “Even when I’m competing today, 10-year-old Emma’s proud no matter what. I’m literally living her dream. If I told her, in 10 years’ time you’d be world champion going to your first Olympics, I would’ve said, ‘no I’m not’. I really need to cherish that. That’s what keeps me grounded. My family love me no matter if I cross the line last or first. They are my values and as long as I hold onto them, the outcomes will be what they will be.”
Finucane possesses not just talent, but resilience too. She admits she struggled after winning the world title last year. “This year’s been one of the toughest of my life,” she says. “People might not believe that because of the success I’ve had, but mentally it’s been so challenging. After winning the rainbows, it was one of the best days of my life – but no one really tells you what happens next. No one tells you how to cope with the expectations. I’ve learnt so much about myself, who I am, and my values. So that’s something I strongly believe in and I’m going to take into the Olympics and really hold myself to. You can get really wrapped up in success and the media. I am just Emma. I’m a 21-year-old girl and I’m pretty normal. I don’t want to change because of the stripy jersey I wear.”
Yet, don’t think Finucane isn’t dreaming of Olympic gold – or golds. She is determined to continue enjoying her remarkable rise. “I have thought about it [winning Olympic gold],” she says. “Because I want it. I’m not going to the Olympics just to be part of the crowd. I’m driven by being successful and winning Olympic gold medals. Even hearing you say it is making me emotional because I’d love to do that, whether it’s this Games or another one. But I also want to enjoy the journey. I don’t want to get to the end and not remember any of it.”
The competitive spirit of that 10-year-old from Carmarthen remains. Finucane promises to ‘pull things out of the bag’ with her performances over the next week. Expect her to smile, enjoy time with her teammates, and embrace the atmosphere… living her dream.
