Carmarthenshire’s Finucane sprints to new World record

Welsh cyclist Emma Finucane set a new world record for the women's flying 200m time-trial at the 2026 UEC Track Elite European Championships in Turkey.

Richard Bond
2 Min Read
Welsh cyclist Emma Finucane set a new world record for the women's flying 200m time-trial at the 2026 UEC Track Elite European Championships in Turkey.

Olympic and former world champion Finucane, 23, took nearly a quarter of a second off the previous best, with a time of 9.759 seconds during qualifying at the Konya velodrome.

Shortly after fellow Great Britain rider Sophie Capewell had become only the second woman ever to ride sub 10 seconds, Finucane eclipsed her team-mate’s time of 9.982secs with an average speed of 73.8km/h (45.8mph) to achieve the new world mark.

The previous record of 9.976secs was set by China’s Yuan Liying at the same velodrome last March.

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The Welsh rider already holds the world record for the team sprint, which she set with Capewell and Katy Marchant in their gold medal-winning ride at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Finucane was the first British woman to win three medals at a single Olympic Games since 1964, also collecting bronze in both the individual sprint and keirin.

Speaking after breaking the record Finucane said:

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“I let everyone know that I wanted to break this world record and I think every girl coming into this competition wanted to take the opportunity too.

“I was really nervous to execute the perfect ride and I think I pretty much went out there and did everything I possibly could technically.

“To come away, to look at the board and see 9.759 and break the world record is unbelievable.”

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Swansea-based sports journalist. Twitter: @RichBond00 Email: RichardBond@swanseabaynews.com
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