Olympics 2024: Emma Finucane set to be 'superstar' for British Cycling on the track

Emma Finucane: remember the name.

The 21-year-old from Carmarthen begins on Monday in relative obscurity, but could end the week as one of the stars of these Games - and not solely from a British perspective.

Quietly, understatedly, she has become the powerhouse of global cycle sprinting and is aiming to emulate Britain's cycling knights Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Jason Kenny, both of whom will be present at the Sain-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome this week, in winning triple sprint gold at a single Games.

Chance one for the new golden girl of the track comes in the team sprint tonight, with her predecessor as golden girl, Dame Laura Kenny, saying: “I’m picking Emma Finucane to become a triple Olympic champion in the women’s team sprint, the individual sprint and the keirin.”

Kenny has GB winning as many as eight golds on the track in the coming days, which would surpass the record seven achieved at London 2012 and the six at the subsequent two Olympics.

Hoy believes that five golds are a more realistic target and that “the women sprint squad will be the stars”.

Of Finucane, he said: “Emma will be feeling the pressure to a certain degree, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins all three. People might not know her now, but they’ll know who she is after the Games.

“She will probably be the superstar of the team, and the reality is she has the potential to do four more Games after this one.”

The width of the Paris velodrome – wider than most, London included – ought to play to the strengths of the bigger riders, like Finucane’s team-mate Sophie Capewell, who also ought to get more of an aerodynamic advantage from the new skinsuits. And the third member of GB’s women’s sprint operation, Katy Marchant, is also in the medal mix.

The men’s sprint squad lack quite the same strength, such is the dominance of the Dutch, but Kenny is tipping Jack Carlin for keirin gold.

Finucane’s rival to be the superstar of the track from a British perspective looked set to be Katie Archibald, but she broke her leg in a freak accident after tripping in her garden and misses Paris.

And yet the team pursuit line-up will most likely either win gold or silver behind New Zealand, a race that is too close to call.

And the men’s pursuit line-up should also be in the mix for the top spot on the podium, despite one of the line-up, Dan Bigham, suffering a crash in practice at the velodrome this week.