Laura Kenny: Cycling legend tips Emma Finucane to make Olympic history in Paris
- Published
Emma Finucane won three gold medals at this month's Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong
Dame Laura Kenny has tipped sprint star Emma Finucane to make Olympic history in Paris this summer.
Kenny, Britain's most successful female Olympian, announced her immediate retirement from cycling on Monday.
But she stepped away with a prediction that Welsh track cyclist Finucane could become the first woman to win a hat-trick of gold medals at a single Games.
"I think the team is going to do incredibly well this summer in Paris," said Kenny.
"They've just had a [Track] Nations Cup and Emma Finucane won three [golds].
"I really think she could become the first female to win three golds in one Games."
Finucane dominated the track in Hong Kong last weekend, completing a stunning treble by winning the women's keirin to add to team and individual sprint golds earlier in the meeting.
The 21-year-old, from Carmarthen, has been steadily building to this point since becoming British sprint champion in 2022 when she also won two medals at the Commonwealth Games that year.
However it was the British Championships last year in Newport when she signalled the scale of her promise, winning four gold medals.
She then announced herself on the global stage in the summer by becoming the fastest woman in world cycling.
Finucane beat Germany's Lea Friedrich in Glasgow to become only the third Briton to win sprint gold at the Cycling World Championships, and the first since fellow Welsh rider Becky James' triumph in 2013.