Finucane makes history with third medal in Paris

Track cycling sensation Emma Finucane made British Olympic history by winning individual sprint bronze for her third medal of the Paris Games.

Not since 1964, when Mary Rand won a medal of every colour in athletics, has a British woman taken a hat-trick of podium finishes at a single Games.

For 21-year-old Finucane, appearing at her maiden Olympics, her latest bronze follows the same colour in the keirin as well as a historic team sprint gold.

She comfortably defeated the Netherlands’ Hetty van de Wouw over two legs in the bronze medal final to add an Olympic medal to her World Championship title in the event.

Coming into the action at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, hopes had been high that Finucane could become the first British woman to win triple gold at a Games.

While that did not materialise, in Finucane Great Britain has its latest star of sprinting.

Prior to these Olympics, Team GB had not won a women’s sprinting medal since the Rio Games eight years ago, when Becky James won double silver and Katy Marchant – one of Finucane’s team sprint team-mates in Paris – took a bronze.