Emma Finucane

 ( Living People ) 

Finucane was spotted by British Cycling in 2018, and that same year she won four national titles in the under-16 category. They came in the 500 m time trial, sprint, scratch race and madison disciplines. In 2019, she became Junior European Champion in the 500 m time trial as well as finishing runner-up in both the sprint and team sprint. Finucane then won bronze medals in the sprint and the 500 m time trial disciplines at the 2019 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Frankfurt. Two years after she was first spotted by British Cycling, she moved to Manchester, the home of the National Cycling Centre.

Again representing Wales, Finucane won two bronze medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She overcame Sophie Capewell of England in the bronze medal race in the sprint, and competing alongside Edmunds and Thomas, she claimed bronze in the team sprint. Finucane described her two medals as "above and beyond" her expectations. She then made her debut appearance at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in October. Competing for Great Britain, she helped secure bronze in the team sprint with Lauren Bell and Capewell.

Finucane won four national titles at the 2023 British Cycling National Track Championships, taking her career total of national titles to five. Her victories came in the 500 m time trial, the sprint, the keirin and the team sprint (with Katy Marchant and Milly Tanner). At the 2023 UEC European Track Championships in Grenchen, Finucane won silver medals in both the team sprint and the keirin. In the Track Cycling Nations Cup, Finucane won bronze medals in the sprint and team sprint at the first round in Jakarta, before claiming sprint gold at the next round in Cairo.

At the 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, she claimed her first senior world title as she took gold in the sprint competition. Her success made her the first British woman to become world sprint champion since Becky James in 2013, and the third British woman overall (after Victoria Pendleton and James). She sealed victory by beating Lea Friedrich in the final. Finucane also set a new sea level record time during her 200 m qualifying ride for the sprint. Later in the competition, she was a member of the British trio who claimed silver in the team sprint. Finucane was named 2023 BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

At the 2024 UEC European Track Championships in Apeldoorn, Finucane won silver in the team sprint, silver in the keirin and gold in the sprint. Her gold in the sprint marked the first time that a British woman had claimed the European sprint title. Her gold and two silvers also marked the best ever performance by a British sprinter, male or female, at the European Track Cycling Championships. In February, Finucane won gold in the team sprint at the Track Cycling Nations Cup in Adelaide, and the following month she won three gold medals at the next meeting of the competition in Hong Kong, triumphing in the sprint, team sprint and keirin.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Finucane, alongside teammates Capewell and Marchant, won the gold medal in the women's team sprint. The trio broke the world record three times during the event, ultimately setting the new record at 45.186 seconds in the final against New Zealand. Their success marked the first time that Great Britain had won Olympic gold in the women's team sprint, and Finucane called their success "unreal", adding, "All those tears we've cried, all those moments our legs have been hurting, it's all been worth it." She later added a bronze medal in the women's keirin. She then won her third medal of the games, a bronze in the sprint, to become the first British woman to win three medals in a single Olympic Games since Mary Rand in 1964. Finucane called her experience in Paris "a rollercoaster", later adding that she had felt "overwhelmed" by the expectation on her to perform, and that she had learned to release her emotions before she raced.

At the 2024 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup, Finucane again teamed up with Capewell and Marchant to win gold in the team sprint. They defeated the Netherlands in the final to claim the title. Victory marked the first time since 2008 that Great Britain had become women's team sprint world champions. She then went on to defend her world sprint title, overcoming Hetty van de Wouw in the gold medal race. Finucane was named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year for a second successive year in December 2024. At the end of the year, Finucane revealed that she would concentrate on her training in 2025, and that she would not participate at either the British or European Track Championships.

In October, Finucane competed at the 2025 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Santiago. In the team sprint, she rode alongside teammates Iona Moir and Rhianna Parris-Smith, with the trio finishing in the silver medal position. She then attempted to defend her world sprint title, but was eliminated after a relegation following a rules infraction on track. She concluded her championships with a silver medal in the keirin.

In August 2024, she was reportedly in a relationship with fellow track cyclist Matthew Richardson. As of 2024, she lives in Bredbury, with fellow cyclist Jessica Roberts.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to cycling.