BBC Wales at the Olympics

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Pembrokeshire's Micky Beckett is in sailing medal contention when the men’s dinghy race gets under way.

However the event (originally scheduled for 14:43 BST) has been delayed due to low winds.

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There will be three Welshwomen looking to emulate Emma Finucane's golden exploits when the team pursuit event starts today at 16:30 BST, with the medals decided on Wednesday.

After winning gold in Rio in 2016, this will be Elinor Barker's third Olympic Games but her first since becoming a mum to Nico in 2022.

She found out she was pregnant on the day she won Olympic silver in the women's team pursuit in Tokyo, meaning a cocktail of emotions as she also came to terms with being left out of the GB quartet for their final against Germany.

At that time, Barker says, Paris was not on her radar - but she has made a remarkable return to the sport after pregnancy.

She competed for Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games when Nico was just five months old, then won two world titles in the team pursuit and Madison in 2023. Those events are in Barker's sights in Paris.

When the last Olympics took place in Tokyo, Anna Morris was in a Gloucestershire hospital training to be a doctor. She had started cycling at university and would fit training around her shifts.

Morris paused her medical career to try - successfully - to make the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Wales, and did not stop there.

She moved on to the British Cycling programme in Manchester and has become an important part of the women's endurance squad.

She was part of the world championship-winning team pursuit quartet in Glasgow last summer and will aim for the same in Paris. She will also double up on the road, with her medical career still on hold.

Jess Roberts was always considered a hugely talented young rider but everything went on hold for her in 2021 as she was forced to take time away from cycling to recover from a long-standing back injury.

That issue is behind her now and, after two Commonwealth Games appearances for Wales, she gets the chance to race at her first Olympics.

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Welshman Hector Pardoe will be an interested observer after Paris 2024 organisers cancelled training for open water swimming on Tuesday because of pollution in the River Seine.

It is the fifth time the water quality has forced a swim familiarisation session to be cancelled during these Games, while the men's race also had to be put back a day.

The latest cancellation comes a day after triathlon's mixed team relay went ahead.

All the triathlon swim legs have taken place in the Seine, which is also set to be used for marathon swimming.

Tests showed the levels of the enterococci bacteria in the water had dropped back below the required standard, although E. coli levels were still deemed acceptable.

Another familiarisation session is scheduled for Wednesday, with the women's 10km race due to take place on Thursday and the men's race on Friday.

World Aquatics spokesperson Anne Descamps said: "We are confident the events will go ahead as planned given the weather tendency."

Heavy rainfall has increased the levels of bacteria in the Seine, although hot weather helps to reduce the count.

If the Seine is still deemed unsuitable, organisers have said marathon swimming can be moved to Vaires-sur-Marne, east of Paris, where the rowing and canoeing competitions take place.

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Great Britain will be among the contenders for gold in the women's team pursuit at the Paris Olympics, but it will be hard not to think about the rider who is not there.

Plans for these Games were flipped upside down six weeks ago when two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion Katie Archibald broke two bones in her leg and tore ligaments off the bone in a freak accident when she tripped on a step in her garden in late June.

Welsh cyclist Elinor Barker, gearing up for her third Games after helping Britain to team pursuit gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo, said the rest of the team are still "a little bit in shock about it".

"Everybody is thinking of Katie," Barker said. "Everybody who knows Katie just wants her to be happy. I think she deserves that and more.

"It's not been so much about the racing. It's been about, 'What does she need?"

Welsh Olympic debutants Jess Roberts and Anna Morris are due to join Barker and Josie Knight in the team pursuit in qualifying on Tuesday which starts around 16:30 BST with the medals decided on Wednesday.

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Solva sailor Micky Beckett has the chance to return from his debut games with a silver or a bronze in the men's dinghy medal races in Marseille today.

After a wind-disrupted Monday, Beckett lies fourth of the top 10 qualifiers.

The 29-year-old must beat third-placed Peruvian Stefano Peschiera by three places on Tuesday to make the podium with racing scheduled to start at 14:43 BST.

Before that Chris Grube, the oldest Welsh Olympian at this Games aged 39, and helm Vita Heathcote are scheduled for mixed dinghy races nine and 10, due to start at 11:15 BST.

Grube and Heathcote lie 11th going into Tuesday and must finish in the top 10 to make their medal races.

Focus returns to the National Veledrome in Paris at 16:30 BST as Welsh riders Elinor Barker, Jess Roberts and Anna Morris hope to ensure GB qualify in the women's team pursuit event.

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Emma Finucane was overcome after winning Olympic track cycling gold in Paris in the women's team sprint event.

"We have been working really hard on this," said Finucane.

"We nailed that final and I believed in us before we went out there, but we actually executed those three laps pretty much perfectly.

"It is a dream come true. I have thought about this since I was 10 years old and to have these two girls by my side has been unreal."

Watch Team GB, including Welsh cyclist Emma Finucane, win gold in the women's team sprint as they beat New Zealand in the final and break the world record for the third time in a day at Paris 2024.

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Welsh track cyclist Emma Finucane has won Olympic gold in the final of the women's team sprint in Paris.

Finucane, Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell set a world record to defeat New Zealand in the final.

The Team GB trio had qualified fastest after breaking the world record twice on the way to the final and this was a hat-trick of world's bests.

Finucane becomes only the seventh Welsh woman to ever win Olympic gold with the success coming on the opening day of competition in her first Games.

The 21-year-old is in contention to challenge for two more golds in Paris with the keirin final on Thursday and the sprint finale on the final day next Sunday.

Finucane is already a world champion having won Britain's first individual female sprint global gold in a decade last year.

The Carmarthen cyclist is also a European champion after becoming the first British female sprinter to achieve this feat.

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Track cyclist Emma Finucane is guaranteed an Olympic gold or silver after helping Team GB to another world record in the women’s team sprint first round.

After both Germany and then New Zealand broke the world record themselves, GB needed to beat Canada and finish in the top two fastest teams to qualify for the gold medal match.

Once again, Carmarthen's Finucane did the job on the last lap and GB will now race New Zealand for Olympic gold just before 19:00 BST.

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Great Britain’s women’s hockey squad, including Cardiff’s Sarah Jones, are out of the Olympics after losing 3-1 to the Netherlands in the quarter finals.

The Netherlands scored in the first 45 seconds but Team GB were able to equalise from a penalty corner.

The Netherlands showed their class by clinching victory with two more goals.

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Low winds in Marseille meant Welsh sailors Micky Beckett and Chris Grube had their Monday races cancelled.

After his ninth and 10th races were called off, Beckett will now go into Tuesday's men's dinghy medal races in fourth place.

To claim bronze on his Games debut, he must beat third-placed Peruvian Stefano Peschiera by three places.

In the mixed dinghy event, Grube hopes he and helm Vita Heathcote's ninth and 10th races will go ahead after races seven and eight fell by the wayside.

If favourable winds return on Tuesday, Beckett's medal race should take place from 14:43 BST.

Grube and Heathcote's races - in which they hope to rise from 11th into the top 10 for the medal race - are scheduled to start from11:15 BST.

Watch as Great Britain break the women's team sprint world record during the track cycling qualifying rounds at Paris 2024.

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Carmarthen’s Emma Finucane helped Great Britain to a new world record in the qualifying round of the women’s team sprint at the Olympics.

In the first event of the track cycling programme at the Paris Games, the Team GB trio of Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant qualified fastest in the women’s team sprint with a time of 45.472.

They will now face Canada in the first round this evening. The next stage will then see the top two fastest trios face each other for the Olympic gold tonight.

Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales

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You know it's a big deal when you get the matching T-shirts printed.

But then again, it's not every day your oldest daughter becomes an Olympian.

Rory and Susie Finucane have hired a camper van and driven the whole family over from Carmarthen to Paris.

All worth it, as they're about to watch Emma compete at an Olympic Games.

Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Emma Finucane

It all started at Carmarthen Velodrome in 2011.

Eight-year-old Emma would go along with her sister, Rosie, and brother, Sean. She began with pink tassels hanging off her handlebars, but it was not long before she started training - and racing - with local cycling club, Towy Riders.

“Looking back at the 10-year-old me always has a special place in my heart,” she says. “Even when I’m competing today, 10-year-old Emma’s proud no matter what.

“I’m literally living her dream. If I told her, in 10 years time you’d be world champion going to your first Olympics, I would’ve been like ‘no I’m not’. I really need to cherish that. That’s what keeps me grounded.

“My family love me no matter if I cross the line last or first. They are my values and as long as I hold onto them, the outcomes will be what they will be.”

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Dani Rowe, Olympic gold medallist from London 2012, is among a host of former track stars that can't help but get excited about the potential of Emma Finucane.

The 21-year-old Welsh cyclist goes for Team GB in the women’s team sprint later today, and will also compete in the individual sprint and keirin.

“I’ve followed her journey from when she started riding and she’s tipped to be the next big superstar,” Rowe said.

“She is already a superstar of course, she is coming into the Olympics as the current world champion in the sprint, but she has got a huge opportunity to bring three gold medals home.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts recently about the pressure she is feeling coming into these Games, but I think she felt it in the world championships when there was a lot of attention on her.

“She said herself she had to take herself into the toilets and started crying because she felt so overwhelmed, but I think actually that will be advantageous coming into the Olympics, because she knows how to deal with that pressure.

“She’s got the best team behind her as well to make sure she’s well equipped to be able to deal with those nerves.”

Rowe agrees with the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Dame Laura Kenny in thinking Finucane will be GB’s next golden girl.

“Looking at the whole of the track team, she is the one to watch because she has got the biggest chance of getting three gold medals," Rowe said.

“I think if they gain a gold today [in the team sprint] you almost get success breeding success, that motivation and inspiration for the whole of the team, not just Emma.

“Hopefully that will get the ball rolling and we will see the success we have had in previous Olympic Games on the track.”

Ceri Coleman-Phillips
BBC Sport Wales

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It may have been a miserable Monday, but Carmarthen’s soggy velodrome had a sprinkling of stardust this morning.

Olympic gold medallists Ed Clancy and Dani Rowe were guests at a special event hosted by Towy Riders to celebrate the achievements of their very own golden girl.

It was on this concrete track some 13 years ago where world champion Emma Finucane rocked up on a mountain bike with beads on the spokes and streamers on the handle bars.

“She just wanted to ride around in circles and have fun,” recalled her first coach Robyn Davies.

Fast forward to the Paris Olympics and Finucane, now 21, has Team GB medal hopes on her shoulders as the track cycling gets under way this afternoon.

“There was a little something with Emma, we used to do lots of skills, riding between cones, learning how to corner and brake, but at the end of every session we used to do races, and there was a switch that used to turn on with her, she wanted to win," added Davies.

“She’d race against anyone, boys, girls, older kids, she wanted to win and most of the time she did."

Davies thinks Finucane has got what it takes to bring home the gold.

“We are so glad that she’s just there as an Olympian, she is the form athlete, she is the world champion, she’s the one with the speed," he said.

"If everything goes to plan and she’s able to show her talent, there is absolutely no reason she can’t get one, maybe three gold medals.

“The town will go nuts if she does.”

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Welsh swimmer Matt Richards said he was "hungrier than ever" for Olympic medals after taking his overall tally to three with a gold and silver in Paris - but he has also got a hunger for Welsh cakes!

The morning after finishing fourth in the men’s 4x100m medley relay, Richards reflected on his 2024 games and paid tribute to the support of his family.

"They've been amazing, my mum, dad, grandparents, my fiancee and just the wider family, everybody's been rallying behind me and supporting me," the 21-year-old freestyler told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast..

"I can't wait to get home and see them all and hopefully granny will have some Welsh cakes made for me when I get back."

Unlike the Covid-affected Tokyo Games three years ago, when Richards won relay gold, this summer he was able to share his successes with some family members in Paris.

"I'm very much a family man, my family are the most important thing in the world to me," said Richards.

"Being able to share the whole experience with them and finish my races, whether it's been a good one or a bad one, to be able to get out and give them a hug just makes it that little bit more special.

"This is what I do it for, doing it for my family. It's been truly incredible to have them here and hopefully long may it continue."

Richards missed out on becoming the first Welsh athlete to win three Olympic medals at a single Games as GB finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m medley.

The gold was won by China leading to Richards' team-mate Adam Peaty saying "there's no point winning if you're not winning fair".

Two of the four gold medallists, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, were among 23 Chinese swimmers who reportedly returned positive doping tests prior to the Tokyo Olympics.

They were not banned because the China Anti-Doping Agency determined they had unintentionally ingested the substance because of contamination.

"When people have tested positive in the past it always makes you question their integrity going forwards," Richards added.

"We have to try and trust in the processes that are in place to trust that last night they were clean and that we were beaten fair and square."

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Here are all the timings (BST) for the Welsh Team GB athletes competing today:

13:45 Men's dinghy - Michael Beckett

14:35 Mixed dinghy - Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote

16:00 Women's team sprint track cycling - Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane

16:30 Women's hockey quarter-final - Netherlands v GB (including Sarah Jones)

17:55 Cycling - women's team sprint first round (possibly involving GB & Emma Finucane)

18:55 Cycling - women's team sprint first round (possibly involving GB & Emma Finucane)

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It's big day ahead at the Olympics for one of Wales' rising sporting stars.

Emma Finucane is already a world champion at 21 years of age and could add an Olympic gold to her collection tonight.

The sprint cyclist from Carmarthen won Britain's first individual female sprint world gold in a decade last year and is the first British female to become European champion.

Tonight in Paris she and her GB team-mates are aiming for team sprint glory. Finucane is also aiming to be in Thursday's keirin final and the women's individual sprint on Sunday, the last day of the 2024 Games.

But back to today - in hockey Sarah Jones and her team-mates face Netherlands in the women's quarter-finals at 16:30 BST.

Meanwhile Welsh sailor Micky Beckett is well placed to reach the men’s dinghy medal races.

He lies fourth after eight races so far. Only the top 10 at the end of race eight get the chance to compete for medals.

Also on the water in Marseille, Chris Grube and partner Vita Heathcote hope to return to the top 10 after falling five places to 11th on Sunday. Grube and Heathcock are scheduled to go in their seventh and eighth races on Monday.

Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales

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He may have won two Olympic golds and a silver by the age of 21, but Matt Richards wanted more from his second Games here in Paris.

Richards missed out on the 200m freestyle title by just 0.02 seconds - as well as finishing 4th and 5th in two relays.

"I thought I was capable of more," he told me. "I still think I probably was capable of more.

"It was a tight finish on the 200m [freestyle] that cost me a gold. I didn't quite get the 100m [freestyle] right this week.

"But I'm walking away from my second Olympics at 21 with two medals at this meet - three medals across two Games, I can't be too hard on myself.

"There's more to come. I'm nowhere near done and I'm hungrier than ever."

Richards will return home now with another big event on the horizon - he gets married to his fiancée Emily in three weeks.

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Swimmer Matt Richards just failed in his bid to become the first Welsh competitor to win three Olympic medals at a single Games after helping the men’s 4x100m medley relay team finish fourth in Paris.

Richards was joined by Ollie Morgan, Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott in the quartet who just finished off the podium, with China winning the event and USA and France taking silver and bronze respectively.

Richards, 21, had already won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the individual event in Paris, while enjoyed relay gold three years ago in Tokyo three years ago.

Paulo Radmilovic remains Wales' most successful Olympian after winning a quartet of golds in swimming and water polo between 1908 and 1920.

Equestrian rider Richard Meade won three golds at two Games in 1968 and 1972, while Richards remains level with sailor Hannah Mills who claimed two golds and a silver in three Games in 2012, 2016 and 2021.

Geraint Thomas (cycling), Tom James (rowing), Jade Jones (taekwondo) and Hugh Edwards (rowing) have all won two Olympic golds.