Emma Finucane is the current world and European track sprint champion. Aged 21, she will make her debut at the Olympics this summer as one of Great Britain's brightest medal hopes. Finucane was awarded Cycling Weekly's Female Rider of the Year for 2023, after she won four national titles, two silver medals at the European Championships, and a maiden rainbow jersey.
What was your first bike?
From memory, it was a pink Halfords bike with little tassels on the side. I used to ride around on the grass and the road. That's my memory of my first bike. I had a pink helmet as well. It was all pink. I think I was 10 when I moved on to an Islabike, a red one. If you know, you know!
What was your earlier memory of watching cycling?
Icebreaker [a youth track racing series] is when I first remember watching a track race. I watched loads of little road races around where I was [in Carmarthen], and then I watched the London 2012 Olympics, in France, with my family. I remember seeing GB winning everything. I didn't know a lot about sprinting then, but I just remember watching that on the telly. My parents did a lot of sport, but they weren't really cycling based at all.
Who was your cycling hero growing up?
Nicole Cooke. I used to watch a lot of road racing, and she's Welsh, like me. Now, Tadej Pogačar is my cycling hero. I still love watching road racing, BMX, cyclo-cross and mountain bike. Going to the Tour de France is on my bucket list. I'd love to go. I really want to meet [Pogačar]. I met G[eraint Thomas] the other day on his podcast, and that was a pretty cool moment.
What's the best place your career has taken you so far?
I think Jakarta was a really cool place. We found these cool, little coffee shops and I got a flat white with a unicorn on it. We got escorted to the velodrome on these bikes and it was just carnage, but it was different. I'd never been to that side of the world. I feel like, when you grow up, you're like, "I really want to go to Australia." But I never thought I'd be able to go to Indonesia on my bike.
If you hadn't become a cyclist, what would you have done?
What I would love to do, in a magical world, is I'd love to be a Formula 1 driver. I want to drive, but I don't know if that's realistic. If I wasn't a cyclist, I'd try to do that. I just love it. I actually want to do a fantasy F1 team. I'm going to go to Monza after the Games.
What's the best thing about being a track sprinter?
I like going fast, and I like that you can show your personality on the track, and you have your style on the track. It comes down to the margins, it's such close racing, and you can hit such high speeds, and it can come down to a lunge. I think that's really exciting, and the crowd love it as much as we love it. I love the people you meet in track cycling and sprinting and the community of it. But yeah, I think it's the speed.
What's the proudest moment of your career so far?
There are a few, but I was really proud of the Euros [in 2024, winning gold in the sprint, silver in the keirin and silver in the team sprint]. I had quite a lot going on coming into the Euros and I was really proud that I was able to hold the expectation and pressure on myself in the rainbow jersey and deliver. That was really big for me.
You can read more about Finucane's career and preparations for the Paris Olympics in the latest issue of Cycling Weekly magazine (out 18 April 2024), which marks 99 days to go until the Games.
