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Emma Finucane

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Emma Finucane
Finucane in 2024
Personal information
Born (2002-12-22) 22 December 2002 (age 22)[1]
Carmarthen, Wales, United Kingdom
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Team information
Current teamBrother UK-Orientation marketing[3]
DisciplineTrack cycling
RoleRider
Rider typesprint, time trial, keirin
Medal record
Women's track cycling
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris Team sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Keirin
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Sprint
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Glasgow Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2024 Ballerup Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2024 Ballerup Team sprint
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Team sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Team sprint
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Apeldoorn Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2023 Grenchen Keirin
Silver medal – second place 2023 Grenchen Team sprint
Silver medal – second place 2024 Apeldoorn Keirin
Silver medal – second place 2024 Apeldoorn Team sprint
Representing  Wales
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Birmingham Team sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Birmingham Sprint

Emma Finucane (/fɪˈnuːkən/ fin-OO-kən; born 22 December 2002) is a Welsh track cyclist.[4][5] She is the 2023 and 2024 UCI world champion in women's individual sprint, the third Briton (after Victoria Pendleton and Becky James) and second Welsh woman (after James) to win the world title. In the Paris 2024 Olympics, she became the first British woman to win three medals in a single Games since Mary Rand in 1964.

Cycling career

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Having previously won two silver medals at the 2020 British National Track Championships, Finucane became a British champion when winning the team sprint event at the 2022 British National Track Championships. She also won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the same Championships.[6][7]

Later that year, Finucane went on to win bronze medals in both the sprint and team sprint at the Commonwealth Games.[8]

Finucane was the star of the 2023 British Cycling National Track Championships, after she won four national titles (taking her total to 5). They were the 500 m Time trial, the Sprint, the Keirin and a second team sprint title.[9][10] At the 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, at the Chris Hoy National velodrome, she claimed her first major title as she took gold in the women's track sprint competition — the first British woman to do so since Becky James in 2013 — beating Lea Friedrich of Germany in the final.[11] During the flying 200 sprint qualifying she set a new British record and a new sea level record time of 10.234s.[12][circular reference] She was also part of the British Women's Team sprint team who took silver in the same competition.

Finucane was named 2023 BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year.[13]

At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Finucane, alongside teammates Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, won the gold medal in the women’s team sprint. The team broke the world record three times during the event, ultimately setting the new record at 45.186 seconds in the final.[14][15] She later added a bronze medal in the women's keirin.[16][17]

At the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark, Finucane teamed with Capewell and Marchant to win gold in the team sprint.[18][19] She went on to also win the sprint title.[20] [21]

Finucane was named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year for the second year in succession in December 2024.[22]

Personal life

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Finucane is a great niece of Irish Second World War RAF pilot Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane (1920–1942), who in June 1942 became the RAF’s youngest wing commander at just age 21.[16]

Her partner is track cyclist Matthew Richardson.[23] She lives in Manchester, the home of British Cycling, with cyclist Jessica Roberts.[24]

Major results

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2022
National Track Championships
1st Team sprint (with Rhian Edmunds and Lowri Thomas)
Commonwealth Games
3rd Team sprint (with Rhian Edmunds and Lowri Thomas)
3rd Sprint
UCI Track World Championships
3rd Team sprint (with Lauren Bell and Sophie Capewell)
2023
National Track Championships
1st Team sprint (with Katy Marchant and Lowri Thomas)
1st Sprint
1st Keirin
1st 500 m time trial
UCI World Championships
1st Sprint
2nd Team sprint
UEC European Championships
2nd Sprint
2nd Team sprint
2024
UEC European Championships
1st Sprint
2nd Team sprint
Olympic Games
1st Team sprint (with Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell)
3rd Keirin
3rd Sprint
UCI World Championships
1st Team sprint (with Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell)
1st Sprint

References

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  1. ^ "Profile". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Emma Finucane". UCI Track Champions a League. UCI. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Points". British Cycling. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Athlete Blog". British Athletes Commission. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  5. ^ "BRITISH TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 3". Velo UK. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  6. ^ "2022 National Track Championships". British Cycling. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Welsh teenagers light up home cycling championships". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Cyclist Emma Finucane claims second bronze medal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  9. ^ "2023 British Cycling Track Championships Results". Velo UK. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Emma Finucane: Welsh cyclist wins four golds at British National Track Championships". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Cycling World Championships 2023: Emma Finucane claims first major title with gold in women's sprint". BBC. 9 August 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  12. ^ List of British records in track cycling
  13. ^ "BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2023: Cyclist Emma Finucane wins". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  14. ^ "British trio win women's team sprint gold". BBC Sport. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Paris 2024 Olympics: Record-breaking Team GB storm to stunning gold in women's team sprint". Eurosport. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  16. ^ a b Whittle, Jeremy (8 August 2024). "'Means everything to me': Finucane delighted with bronze in Olympic keirin". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  17. ^ "GB's Finucane takes keirin bronze for second medal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  18. ^ "British trio win women's world team sprint gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Great Britain storm to women's team sprint gold at Cycling World Championships". The Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  20. ^ "GB's Finucane powers to gold to defend world sprint title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  21. ^ "'I just really wanted it' - Emma Finucane soars to sprint gold at Track World Championships". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Finucane named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2024". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  23. ^ Cary, Tom (19 August 2024). "Revealed: The secret talks that brought Emma Finucane's Australian boyfriend to Team GB". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  24. ^ Cheng, Kate (6 August 2024). "Emma Finucane: Team GB's Olympic gold cyclist". Women's Health. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
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