'I just really wanted it' - Emma Finucane soars to sprint gold at Track World Championships

Emma Finucane’s parents didn’t get to see their daughter win her first UCI Track World Championships gold medal in Glasgow last year, but they were front row to witness her successful title defence on Friday night.

Inside Denmark’s Ballerup Super Arena, the 21-year-old eased through every race she contested, eventually beating the Netherlands’ Hetty van de Wouw 2-0 in the final.

Finucane’s first act on crossing the line was to smile and wave to her parents on the back straight. She then soaked up the applause for a lap, before grinding to halt in front of them along the barrier, where her father draped a Union Jack over her shoulders.

The moment, Finucane said afterwards, was “so special”; A scene distinctly different to her first world title celebration with her family, which came over videocall, after they had to return home to Wales.

“This was more for them than for me,” Finucane told Cycling Weekly. “They support me no matter what, win or lose. They travelled everywhere with me when I was growing up. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents. They were my taxi up and down the M4. They paid for me. They were everything. To have them standing on the sideline, cheering me on, is just massive for me.”

After winning gold in the team sprint on Wednesday, Finucane reset again for her individual sprint defence. She finished top in qualifying, ahead of teammates Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, before dispatching China’s Lijuan Wang, Japan’s Mina Sato, and finally Van de Wouw.

“I just really wanted it. I wanted to prove to myself that I can handle the pressure,” she said. “I was a bit of an underdog [last year]. People knew my name, but I was middle of the field, no one really knew who I was. Now, I’ve raced in the rainbow jersey all year. I’ve had the expectation. I’ve dealt with the pressure and even the commentary; when I’m rolling up, it’s like, ‘It’s the defending champion… Can she do it?’

“That’s a pretty mind-boggling situation. It was really, really hard, and I’m really happy with how I conducted myself and composed myself on the track.”

Finucane’s latest gold medal, her second of the week, follows an immensely successful summer, in which she won three Olympic medals – the first British woman in 60 years to do so – including gold in the team sprint with Capewell and Marchant.

“I’ve got my jerseys, I’ve got my Olympic medals, and for me this was a bonus,” she said. Then came the time to reset again – Finucane is competing in the 500m time trial on Saturday – and with her Union Jack still tied around her neck, she dashed to the turbo trainer to warm down.

Sato beat Capewell to the final podium spot in the bronze medal ride-off.

Moments before Finucane’s victory, Josh Charlton witnessed his six-hour reign as the individual pursuit world record holder come to an end, but not without a valiant fight.

The Brit was only the third person in history to go below the four-minute mark in the event, clocking a new benchmark of 3:59.304 in qualifying. He then faced Italy’s Jonathan Milan in the final, who bettered the record by almost two tenths of a second. Charlton finished only one second down.

Afterwards, the 21-year-old was “over the moon” with the result, especially after struggling with chronic fatigue in the spring. “I really didn’t think I was going to get to Worlds this year,” he said. “[Milan] was winning stages of the Giro [d’Italia], and I was kind of in the bin physically. I got really ill. I didn’t even really want to be in the sport for a lot of parts of this year.”

Having fought back to fitness, Charlton stood proud with his silver medal. “I’d be an idiot to be disappointed right now,” he said. “I did a really good ride there, and he just had more gas than me, but I already knew he did. I just made him nervous for a few hours this afternoon, and to make a guy like him nervous for any amount of time is world class. I can be really proud of it.”

The individual pursuit also brought the final race for Dan Bigham with the national squad. The 33-year-old, a newly minted Olympic silver medallist, bowed out with bronze, in a tense battle with long-time teammate Charlie Tanfield.

“It was emotional,” Bigham said post-race, after receiving a guard of honour from the GB staff, who held bike wheels above his head for him to walk below. “I surprised myself a little bit. I definitely got myself in a nice hole at the back end [of the race] that I didn’t expect to have. It was quite nice to be able to do a good ride all things considered.

“When I was warming up, I didn’t feel great, but I’ve done enough of these damn things that you drag yourself kicking and screaming through it. It’s literally the last four minutes I’ll ride at this level, on this stage, and you just look up and you’re like, ‘It’s pretty damn cool.’”

Jess Roberts set herself the target of placing in the top eight in the women’s Omnium, but impressed throughout the four-race event, clawing her way from fifth going into the final points race to finish second overall.

“I’m really happy, but I’m also really annoyed,” she said afterwards. With four laps to go, Roberts trailed New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston by two points, with 10 available over the line. The Brit then suddenly dropped back from the field, looking down in dismay at her bike.

“My foot came out!” she said. “I bumped into [Denmark’s Amalie] Dideriksen, and I was like, ‘No! I can’t get it back in.’ I couldn’t contest the last sprint, so that was what I was really annoyed about, but I’m also really happy.”

Earlier this season, the 25-year-old rode her first elite Omnium at a Nations Cup round, and finished 19th. “I just wanted to come here and race well, and learn how to race bunch races,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to master this, and hopefully in this next four-year cycle [to the Los Angeles Olympics], I can continue that.”

Wollaston won the gold medal, her second in two days after taking victory in the elimination race on Thursday.

In the men’s kilometre time trial, Joe Truman set a new British record in winning the bronze medal. The 27-year-old, who went to the Paris Olympics as a reserve, shaved two tenths of a second off Chris Hoy’s previous best from 2007, clocking 58.669.

“It’s been six years trying hard the whole time,” said Truman, who won his last Worlds medal in 2018. “I’ve had two major injuries in that time, which set me back. This last year and half, I’ve had a really good run. I think I was unfortunate to miss out on getting a ride at the Games.

“To come here and do a good time and show the progress I’ve made in the last 18 months, I’m proud of myself.”

Silver in the kilo went to the world record holder, Jeffrey Hoogland, while the Dutchman’s compatriot, Harrie Lavreysen, won a fifteenth world title, the most of any track rider in the sport’s history.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Sebastián Mora won a hectic men’s point race, in which GB’s Mark Stewart finished sixth.