British track sprinter Emma Finucane will carry both medal and world record hopes at the European Track Championships next month, where she will try to beat the flying 200m benchmark.
The women’s world record is currently held by China’s Yuan Liying, who became the first female to clock below 10 seconds with a 9.976 last March – an average of more than 72kph. The European Championships, scheduled for 1-5 February, will take place in the same velodrome in Konya, Turkey where Liying set her record.
“They [Great Britain] want to try new things in the team sprint, and I guess it’s a good opportunity to go to a competition. It’s in Konya, and I want to try and break a world record. I want to try and go sub-10,” Finucane, the team sprint Olympic champion, told Cycling Weekly.
“I’ve seen on Instagram that a few girls are going to try and do it. I saw Lea [Sophie Freidrich, former flying 200m world record holder] put something on Instagram like, ‘Watch this space.’ Then obviously Hetty [van de Wouw]. There are a few girls eyeing up this sub-10. Obviously Yuan [Liying] has already done it, so I think let’s just see where that record can go. That’s a goal of mine.”
The velodrome in Konya boasts a number of features that help riders gain speed quickly when dropping down the banking. Built 1,200m above sea level, its altitude gives it lower air density, which reduces aerodynamic drag. It is also eight metres wide, one metre wider than standard tracks, and slightly steeper, at 45.5°, compared with London’s Lee Valley Velodrome, for example, at 42°.
GB’s Matthew Richardson broke the men’s flying 200m world record in Konya last August, stopping the clock at 8.857 seconds as the first person to go below the nine-second barrier. Finucane, Richardson’s team-mate and partner, was part of the trip, and left inspired.
“When I saw him go sub-nine, and smash the world record, I was like, ‘Ah, I want to do it’,” she said. “I haven’t told many people. I haven’t actually spoken about it a lot, because it’s not its own individual event like Matty’s. I will be doing it in comp[etition]. I won’t get all the luxuries, I don’t think, but it’s still a great place to do it.”
In preparation for her world record bid, Finucane has been training specifically on her top speed – “a lot less starts, a lot more flying efforts” – and has received some advice from Richardson. Though she visited the velodrome last August, the European Championships will be her first time riding the track.
Ramping it up
(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Following her best season to date in 2024, in which she won a European title, two world titles and three Olympic medals – one gold and two bronze – Finucane took a step back from racing championship events last year to focus on training.
Her only major competition in 2025 was October’s UCI Track World Championships, where she won two silver medals.
“Last year for me was a lot about growth,” the 23-year-old explained. “I spent a lot of time in Manchester at home, and it was different, but it gave me opportunities to go back to Wales a bit more, see my family more, do a podcast… I think I now know that balance.
“[At the end of the year] I sat down with Scott [Pollock, GB women’s sprint coach] and I was like, ‘I wish I raced more.’ But then would I have physically worked on things more? I don’t know. I guess in the grand scheme of things for LA [Olympics in 2028], it was OK to have not raced more and physically gotten better in the gym and on the track. But for the World Championships last year, I wish I had raced more.”
In 2026, Finucane plans to return to a busier calendar of events. Her programme will see her compete at the British National Track Championships next month after the European Championships, before travelling to the UCI World Cup round in Hong Kong, the Commonwealth Games (representing Wales), and the UCI World Championships in Shanghai.
“I think what’s motivating me this year is I want to achieve things,” Finucane said. “I know what it’s like to win a World Championships and to win bike races, and I think I want to grow on that and feel that more. I want to be successful, but not only just this year – I want to be successful for many years to come.”
Thanks to Vauxhall for arranging this interview. The car manufacturer has today been announced as the official automotive partner of Team GB.
