Emma Finucane has set her sights on “smashing” the Paris Olympics next summer after becoming the fastest woman in world cycling.
Finucane beat Germany’s Lea Friedrich to win sprint gold at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
The 20-year-old became only the third British winner in the discipline and the first since fellow Welsh rider Becky James’ triumph in 2013.
Now she aims to add Olympic gold in France next year.
Having already helped the British team to women’s team sprint silver on Thursday, Finucane dominated qualifying for the solo event with the fastest-ever 200m by a woman at sea level on Monday.
On Wednesday she saw off last year’s world bronze medallist Emma Hinze before beating another German rider in the final, needing only two races in the best-of-three to take the title.
“I couldn’t believe it and even crossing the line I had to look up at the board to double check,” Finucane told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
“To win and win in front of a home crowd was insane. I don’t think it will sink in for a long time.
“For me and Sophie [Capewell] to go 10.2 and 10.3 in qualifying was amazing and then for me to top it off by becoming world champion was unreal.
“I couldn’t have done it without my coach Kaarle [McCulloch]. She was giving me all the tactics and we were going through my processes on the line so then it was just down to me to do it.
“I didn’t know I was only the third [British woman] to win it but I knew it was 10 years since Becky. They (Victoria Pendleton and Becky James) were two women who I looked up to in my sprint career.
“It’s definitely an amazing step forward for women’s sprint racing in Great Britain.”
Olympic countdown
Finucane, from Carmarthen, has been steadily building to this point since winning two silver medals at the British Championships in 2020.
Two years later she became British champion – amid five medals – at the team sprint before taking two medals at the Commonwealth Games the same year.
However it was the British Championships earlier this year in Newport when she signalled the scale of her promise, winning four gold medals.
“A lot of things have led up to this moment. It’s been a lot of hard work and I haven’t seen my family for so long,” she said.
“In Manchester we have a lot of the sprint girls pushing each other on and we’re really looking forward to Paris next year.
“Qualifying for the team sprint was our number one objective because we didn’t for the last two Olympic cycles, so to do that was amazing.
“Come so close to Germany [in the final] has given us confidence so we’re going to be working so hard to make sure we go and smash Paris.”
Team-mate and close friend Elinor Barker tipped Finucane as one to watch not only in Glasgow but Paris next year and even Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympics, while Sir Chris Hoy told viewers we would be “talking for a long time” about this new sprint star.
“I definitely feel pressure with people saying things like that but that’s a good thing because it brings nerves and excitement,” said Finucane.
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, working hard on and off the track.
“We’ve got good motivation and determination with our new coach so it’s going to be exciting. But now we want to go to Paris and win.”