EMMA FINUCANE WINS KEIRIN BRONZE AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Emma Finucane won bronze for Great Britain in the women’s keirin at the UCI World Track Championships in Shanghai on Sunday. Alina Lysenko, competing as a neutral athlete, took gold, while Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich won silver. Finucane finished 14 thousandths of a second behind Lysenko in a close finish on the championships’ final day. The result followed silver medals in the team sprint and individual sprint earlier in the week. “To get a bronze medal at the end of it is something to be really proud of,” Finucane said.

Finucane said this was the first time she had won medals in all three events at a world championships. She had won world titles in the sprint in 2023 and 2024. Sophie Capewell joined her in the team sprint, having also raced with her in Great Britain’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Rhianna Parris-Smith replaced the retired Katy Marchant in the team sprint trio. Friedrich had previously won two keirin world titles.

Finucane said she had felt strong before the keirin final and raced on instinct. “I didn’t come off thinking ‘I wish I gave more’, I gave it everything I could out there,” she said. She said she briefly thought she might have won and described the field as “really stacked”. Finucane said the competition had given her confidence because she had put herself in positions to win. She closed her comments by saying: “Roll on LA [2028]!”