Voting has closed for SJA members to decide the winners of three major categories at the British Sports Awards 2024; winners will be announced live on Sky Sports News on Wednesday 20 November; Stuart Broad, Mary Earps and Manchester City’s men’s team claimed the 2023 honours; who will take the top prizes this year?
By Rishi Tanna
No British woman since 1964 had won three medals at a single Summer Olympic Games, until Emma Finucane achieved this remarkable feat in 2024, in her very first Olympics.
Despite being just 21, Finucane was the only Team GB athlete to win three medals in Paris.
The Welsh cyclist matched track and field athlete Mary Rand’s 60-year-old record by becoming Olympic champion in team sprint, to go with two bronze medals in the keirin and individual sprint.
Team GB had never won a medal in the team sprint, and hadn’t managed a women’s sprint medal since Rio 2016.
But Finucane, alongside teammates Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell, powered to gold in a new world record, the third time they broke it that day.
The gold was the first medal in the velodrome, kickstarting Team GB’s successful track cycling campaign, and Finucane has become a poster girl for the new generation of elite track cyclists.
The pressure on young shoulders was immense, as historically, GB track cycling has been a gold medal machine.
Famous names like Sir Jason and Dame Laura Kenny have retired since Tokyo 2020 and former powerhouses like Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are long gone.
However, they inspired an eight-year-old Finucane to begin cycling at her local velodrome, and the academy program picked her up from 2018.
She handled that expectation impeccably to anchor the team sprint squad.
Winning a further two medals in back-to-back-to-back events was a feat of incredible endurance, resilience, and pure speed.
And now, with many more Olympic Games to come, she really could win the most medals of any British female athlete, needing three more to tie Laura Kenny.
The rider hailing from Carmarthen hasn’t just won at the Olympics however.
In January this year, Finucane became Britain’s first European sprint champion, to go with two more medals at the championships.
There was somehow time for multiple gold medals in the Track Nations Cup too.
Defending her world sprint title in mid-October is up next, off the back of becoming GB’s first world sprint champion a year prior.
This dream year finishes in December with the Track Champions League in London.
She’s even helped convince her boyfriend, fellow triple Olympic medallist Matthew Richardson, to join Team GB from Australia for LA 2028.
Another superstar cyclist has emerged from the Olympics, and Emma Finucane is a name you will certainly be getting used to for the next decade.
Sports journalist Rishi Tanna is a member of the SJA Academy – find out more about membership here.
Visit our SJA British Sports Awards 2024 hub article for more information.
The SJA is interested in your sports media industry news and views. Keen to reach an engaged audience, including over 70,000 followers across social media? We welcome your enquiries – contact us here. We also offer advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
For information on how to apply as a Full or Associate Member of the SJA, plus details of our free-to-enter SJA Academy, click here.