Finucane takes keirin bronze to complete three-medal Worlds haul

Emma Finucane completed a three-medal campaign at the Track Cycling World Championships in Shanghai with bronze in Sunday's keirin, finishing just 0.014 seconds behind the winner. BBC Sport reported that the 23-year-old led into the home straight before neutral athlete Alina Lysenko and Germany's Lea Friedrich passed her at the finish.

The result followed silver medals in the team sprint and individual sprint, both events won by Chinese cyclists. Although Finucane missed out on a world title in Shanghai, she said it was the first time she had won medals in all three of her events at a single world championships. She described herself as proud of that achievement despite her frustration at not taking gold.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Finucane said her performances had given her confidence to carry into the coming years. She emphasised that she had put herself in contention to win each race, and viewed the experience as part of her preparation for the Olympics. Retaining Great Britain's women's team sprint title at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 remains a central ambition.

Finucane won that Olympic title in Paris in 2024 alongside Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell, securing Britain's first gold in the women's team sprint. She also took individual sprint and keirin bronze medals at those Games. Shanghai therefore brought another set of podium finishes across the three events, this time including silver rather than bronze in the individual sprint.

Britain's team sprint line-up changed for these championships, with Rhianna Parris-Smith replacing the newly retired Marchant. The British riders finished behind China's Jiang Yulu, Tong Mengqi and Yuan Liying. Finucane highlighted the depth of competition within the British squad, saying 10 riders at home were competing for places and that this internal pressure would help the team improve towards Los Angeles.

Finucane's three medals contributed to a successful championships for Great Britain, which finished top of the overall medal table with 12. That total included three gold medals for Anna Morris. For Finucane, the immediate return was a medal in every event she contested, alongside the narrow disappointment of a keirin finish separated from gold by fourteen thousandths of a second.