Fresh from breaking a world record at the European Championships, Emma Finucane has carried her searing form into this week’s British Track Championships, where she is now one win away from a clean sweep.
The Olympic gold medallist, who won the team sprint on Friday, returned on Saturday to rule over the keirin, crossing the line at least three bike lengths ahead of her GB team-mates.
The victories come three weeks after Finucane broke the flying 200m record en route to Euros gold in the sprint. “I came in with good form,” she said of this week’s Nationals, “and I’ve kind of used that momentum.
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“In that [keirin] final, I knew I needed some space, and as long as I put 100% effort in and found that black line, I knew it would be really hard to get round me. That’s pretty much what I did: I picked a point, found the black line, and absolutely sent it. To cross the line first is really, really special.”
Finucane last achieved a clean sweep at the competition in 2023, then 20 years old and riding on her home velodrome in Newport. “To win a National Champs jersey is always special,” she said, after claiming her seventh on Saturday.
Now with a day to go at the championships, both she and her partner Matthew Richardson are looking for one more win each to take a full sprint gold medal haul back to their home in suburban Manchester; Finucane will race the individual sprint on Sunday, while Richardson will race the keirin – both events in which the two are the European champions.
“The triple would be really cool, and hopefully Matty will do the same. He’s pretty unbeatable here,” Finucane said. “[I’m taking it] one race at a time.”
Team sprint overhaul
Marcus Hiley, Matthew Richardson and Harry Radford showed teamwork lifts trophies.
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWPix)
Richardson’s second title of the championships came in the team sprint, which he won with Marcus Hiley and Harry Radford – a trio that pledged to race together over a game of Fifa a month ago.
In the final, the team were five thousands of a second down at the end of the second lap, before Richardson pulled them a whole second into the green. Their finishing time of 42.478 would have earned them a gold medal and a world record at the London 2012 Olympics.
“I certainly executed better than I thought I would,” Radford said.
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After the race, he, Hiley and Richardson swapped their skinsuits for Stockport County shirts, in honour of their team’s 4-2 victory over Wigan in League One. “It’s a shame we missed the game,” Hiley said. “But I guess coming away with a jersey makes it worthwhile in the end.”
Morris and Bostock double up
Anna Morris has won two golds and a silver this week.
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWPix)
There were more national titles, too, for Anna Morris and Matthew Bostock, who each earned their second gold medal of the week.
Morris, who won the scratch race on Thursday and placed second in the individual pursuit on Friday, proved the most consistent scorer in the points race, which she won ahead of Josie Knight and Katie Archibald.
The trio were part of a group that gained a lap during the race, and kept pushing each other into the closing sprints. In the end, Morris tallied 44 points, while Knight collected 33 and Archibald 29.
“When you’ve got the calibre of riders like Katie, Josie, Jess [Roberts] and Erin [Boothman], it really elevates the level of the field,” Morris said. “It makes for good, hard racing. That’s what we want, and that’s what we’ve come here to do.”
Bostock’s second victory came in the elimination race, following his scratch race win from Friday. “It’s been the perfect start to the year,” he said.
The 28-year-old, now racing for Rapha’s new RCC Racing team, rejoined the Great Britain Cycling Team squad last April, having been on the Academy as a teenager.
“I always used to wing it a bit [on the track],” he smiled. “But now, with the help of the coaches, I’m starting to actually really understand it.”
Tandem treble
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWPix)
In the para-cycling events, tandem duo Jenny Holl and Sophie Unwin earned their third gold medals, this time with a catch at the halfway point in the 4km pursuit final.
“We went quicker than either of us were expecting to,” said Unwin, who, with Holl, is the world champion in the event. “To be able to race in the rainbow jersey, and to be able to win in the rainbow jersey, is great.”
There were also wins for Crystal Lane-Wright in the C4-5 scratch race, Elisabeth Simpson in the C1-3 scratch race, Alex Jones in the C4-5 kilometre time trial, Fin Graham in the C1-3 kilometre time trial, and Frederick Ireland and Aaron Pope in the men’s tandem sprint.
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