Wales’s Emma Finucane made it four golds from four events at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, with a confident ride to victory in the final day’s women’s keirin event.
She won the Team Sprint on Thursday, alongside Lowri Thomas and Rhian Edmunds, before qualifying fastest for the individual sprint on Friday, and winning without dropping a single race. She rode what was said to be her first kilo in over 10 years on Saturday, winning by almost a third of a second – to give her a shot at making history on Sunday.
She won both her first round and semi final in relative comfort; but the tight schedule meant they were lining up for the finals barely half an hour after the semis had finished.
Finucane drew position two in the line, behind fellow Welsh rider Thomas, with Australia’s Alessia McCaig and Kristina Clonan directly behind. Japanese-style obstruction would be against the rules; but would the pairs have aligned their race strategies? Ellesse Andrews, drawn five, wasn’t prepared to risk it – and moved towards the front before the derny had left the track, to break things up.
Finucane was pushed back to fourth; and clearly didn’t like that. With two laps left, she powered to the front, and dared the rest to try and come past her. First one Australian tried to come over the top, then the other, with Andrews on Finucane’s wheel, hoping for an opportunity.
But there was nobody getting in front of Finucane today. Speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, she said she had been convinced they would come around her; but the two Aussies ran out of gas, and when the door finally opened for Andrews, it was too late.
‘Every time I won this week, it was like – oh, you’re gonna get the four,’ she explained. ‘It’s so hard to block it out. I really really wanted it, but I had to race through the races. I could have easily gone out in the semi there. The fact to make it to the final was insane.
‘I raced with confidence. I took it in from the front. It’s something I’m really proud of. Even if I didn’t win the race, I was really proud of how I rode it. I just can’t believe it.’
