Meet Emma Finucane, the Welsh cycling sensation tipped to make Olympic history
ITV Wales sports reporter Matt Southcombe has the story.
Emma Finucane arrives at our interview with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.
She has every reason to be cheerful, heading into her first Olympic Games as the reigning world and European sprint cycling champion.
She jokes that a year ago you would have struggled to get a word out of her in front of a camera, but now she quite enjoys speaking to the media.
The last 12 months have been a journey in many different ways.
At just 20 years of age, she stunned the world in August 2023 when she became the fastest woman on two wheels.
But it hasn’t all been plain sailing. She openly admits that before that final in Glasgow, she found herself sitting in a toilet stall crying as the pressure became too much.
But she composed herself, went out onto the track, and achieved greatness.
The victory meant that for the 12 months that followed, Finucane would race in the coveted rainbow jersey, which brings a pressure that can weigh heavy on young shoulders.
"Racing in the rainbows has been really hard for me," she tells ITV Cymru Wales.
"I guess people don't talk about it a lot and until you experience that you don't actually know how it feels. I’ve been speaking to my psychologist a lot and my coach. For me, speaking about it really helps.
"And I wish someone had given me a book after the Worlds and said 'this is what you need to do and this is what’s going to happen' because you just don’t know.
"That’s been really hard for me and the people from the outside don’t actually see that.
"I didn’t think racing in the rainbows would affect me a lot, but it did."
In January, Finucane became Britain’s first female European sprint champion.
The win validated her success at the Worlds and proved she belonged at the top.
"Winning the Euros in the rainbow jersey was one of the proudest moments of my career because I overcame the expectation, I learned how to deal with the pressure and I learned so much about myself.
"That’s something that I’m really grateful for heading into the Olympics but it has been a really hard journey and difficult to overcome."
Sprint cycling can be a particularly confrontational sport. Two athletes on a track, and the slowest loses. It’s ruthless.
The mind games start before the race does and then it becomes a game of cat and mouse, with both cyclists meandering around the track until one decides to make their move, exploding into life.
The final lap, where the race is all about grit and power, lasts just 10 seconds.
You have to be aggressive, but spend just 10 minutes with this mild-mannered 21-year-old from Carmarthen and aggressive would be the last word you’ll use to describe her.
She laughs at the suggestion: "I'm really not aggressive and it takes a lot out of me to find that and it takes a lot of energy. I almost have to pep talk myself and be like ‘I want to tear this girl’s legs off, I want to beat them'.
"My coach, Scott, will always tell me to be aggressive and I need to hear that. I’ve learned to find that character of mine and use it - because I need to."
On the start line, many will choose to simply stare at their opponent as they wait side-by-side.
The arena falls silent as the cyclists wait to be released. Tension rises. There is no time to make a mistake in sprint cycling, because there is no time to recover from it.
At this moment, anxiety can sky-rocket, if you allow it.
"Even talking about it now is making me really nervous because it’s such a scary feeling, you’re so exposed on the start line," she explains.
"When I'm really nervous and when I don't know what to do, I come back to what I can control.
"So yeah, I just keep talking to myself on that start line, saying my little processes, especially in the sprint because your opponent is right there, they could be staring at you.
"I don’t like to do that because I can’t control what they’re going to do at the end of the day, I can control what I’m going to do on that start line."
Finucane is modest about her achievements to date but the enormity of them betray her. You are not afforded a low profile when you’re the undisputed fastest woman on two wheels.
Her efforts provoked a lofty prediction from none other than Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian.
Kenny has tipped Finucane to win gold in all three events that she’s competing in at these Games - the team sprint, sprint and keirin.
If she were to pull it off, it would be the first time in history a female has won a hat-trick of gold medals at a single Olympics Games.
Finucane smiles before I get the question out. She has been asked about it repeatedly since Kenny’s quotes emerged.
"I guess people like Laura saying that is really confidence-building and you’re like ‘wow, people do believe it me’,” she says.
"But also, I know what I need to do and I’ll be going up to that start line thinking about myself and my processes.
"I can only bring the best version of myself to that start line. I’ll leave everything out on that track and if it ends with a gold medal then that would be amazing.
"I’ve dreamt of this and I don’t want to shy away from it. Yes, I would love to win. But also just being there, being an Olympian and competing in front of my family and friends is an achievement in itself.
"As long as I keep being who I am and I keep enjoying it then the sky’s the limit."
As the interview winds down, I ask Finucane to cast her mind back to her earliest memories of two wheels.
She recalls a pink bike with tassels on the handlebars, talks of how her parents were her coaches, nutritionists and mechanics when things got a bit more serious, and how her dad was sad to let that go when she moved into elite pathways.
Family, and home, is important to her.
She concludes: "When I’m competing, I cherish 10-year-old Emma because she’s pinching herself right now that I’m 21 and going to my first Olympic Games, and that I’m riding this really cool bike and competing for my country.
"I didn’t think that would happen to me."