'I can’t believe I found this sport and this sport found me' – Emma Finucane makes history at Commonwealth Games

Emma Finucane came into the Commonwealth Games dreaming of singing the Welsh national anthem atop the podium. After four days of competition, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau might have rather got stuck in the 23-year-old’s head, after she won four golds at Glasgow 2026, the first sprinter to take such a haul in one Games. Together with two bronzes from 2022, Finucane is also now Wales’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete.

The rider from Carmarthen even ended the week in Scotland as Wales’s flagbearer at the closing ceremony, something that was revealed live to her on Welsh-language channel S4C. “I honestly feel like I’m in a dream,” she said, “I never thought I’d be carrying the Welsh flag in front of the whole nation. Riding for Wales, representing Wales, has been one of the best weeks in my life, and I can’t. It would be an honour to do that…

“Coming into these games, I hadn’t ridden for Wales for four years. Coming into these games, being part of Team Wales, we’ve been going on about how much passion we have, how much drive we have. We are such a small nation, but we have so much belief and I wanted to look down at the dragon on my jersey and do it proud. Every race I went out there and did it, and the nation has been behind me. The Commonwealth Games is so special, and I can’t believe I get to stand on the top step, and I feel like I’m in an absolute fairytale.”

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The gold rush began on the opening day at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, as the Welsh trio of Finucane, Lowri Thomas and Rhian Edmunds defeated their teammates-turned-rivals in England (Rhianna Parris-Smith, Sophie Capewell, Katy Marchant) in the team sprint. The trio broke the Commonwealth Games record twice in qualifying and then the final, topping out at 46.760s.

On Friday, another gold came, this time in the individual sprint, where she defeated England’s Sophie Capewell, her training partner and friend, in the final. Again, Finucane set a new Games record.

Her victory on Saturday, in the kilometre time trial, saw Finucane become the first Welshwoman to win three golds in one Games. She raced the 1,000m in 1:05.285, as Antipodean opposition could not get close enough to her time. Post-race, the 23-year-old said she felt her legs were going backwards, such was the pain.

It seemed inevitable, then, that Finucane was going to win once more, in the keirin on Sunday, and she did it in style, dominating from the front with two laps to go to make history again. “I can’t believe I found this sport and this sport found me,” she said.

GB and IoM medals

Gold x 12

Men’s tandem B kilometre TT - Neil Fachie (Sco)
Men’s team pursuit - Henry Hobbs, Charlie Tanfield, Will Tidball, Ethan Vernon (Eng)
Women’s team sprint - Lowri Thomas, Emman Finucane, Rhian Edmunds (Wal)
Women’s individual pursuit - Anna Morris (Wal)
Women’s points race - Anna Morris (Wal)
Women’s individual sprint - Emma Finucane (Wal)
Men’s tandem B sprint - Neil Fachie (Sco)
Women’s kilometre TT - Emma Finucane (Wal)
Men’s scratch race - Henry Hobbs (Eng)
Men’s C1-C3 Individual Pursuit - Matthew Robertson (Eng)
Women’s keirin - Emma Finucane (Wal)
Men’s points race – Matt Bostock (IOM)

Silver x 10

Men’s tandem B kilometre TT - James Ball (Wal)
Women’s C4-C5 individual pursuit - Morgan Newberry (Eng)
Women’s team sprint - Rhianna Parris-Smith, Sophie Capewell, Katy Marchant (Eng)
Men’s team sprint - Joe Truman, Hamish Turnbull, Harry Ledingham-Horn (Eng)
Women’s individual sprint - Sophie Capewell (Eng)
Women’s individual pursuit - Jess Knight (Eng)
Men’s elimination - Mark Stewart (Sco)
Women’s points race - Jess Roberts (Wal)
Men’s tandem B sprint - James Ball (Wal)
Men’s kilometre TT - Joe Truman (Eng)

Bronze x 11

Women’s team pursuit - Meg Barker, Anna Morris, Ciara Oliva, Jess Roberts (Wal)
Women’s tandem B sprint - Lizzi Jordan (Eng)
Women’s team sprint - Maddy Silcock, Iona Moir, Lauren Bell (Sco)
Women’s individual sprint - Rhian Edmunds (Wal)
Women’s individual pursuit - Erin Boothman (Sco)
Men’s C1-C3 kilometre TT - Finn Graham (Sco)
Women’s scratch race - Erin Boothman (Sco)
Men’s keirin - Harry Ledingham-Horn (Eng)
Men’s elimination - Henry Hobbs (Eng)
Women’s tandem B kilometre TT - Sophie Unwin (Eng)
Men’s scratch race - Ethan Vernon (Eng)

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.

Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.