Britain's Finucane sprints to gold at cycling worlds
Emma Finucane became the first British track rider to win the women's sprint gold at the World Championships for 10 years as she beat Germany's Lea Friedrich in the final on Wednesday. Riding in a velodome named after Chris Hoy, a British track sprinting icon, the 20-year-old Finucane announced herself by beating two-time world individual sprint champion Emma Hinze in the semi-final and then overpowering Friedrich 2-0 in final. New Zealand's Ellesse Andrews beat Hinze to bronze. The final night of competition on the boards provided a big upset as Colombia's Kevin Quintero left the big favourites in his wake to win the men's keirin gold. New Zealand's Aaron Gate won the men's points race from Spain's Albert Torres and Belgium's Fabio Van den Bossche but local favourite Katie Archibald's hopes of bringing the curtain down on the meeting with gold in the omnium were frustrated. Archibald, whose partner Rab Wardell died in his sleep from a cardiac arrest a year ago, launched a brave early attack in the final points race but ended up fourth with American Jennifer Valente retaining her title ahead of Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen and Lotte Kopecky. It was Valente's second gold in Glasgow. "I'm frustrated about how I went through the event as a whole, but it's nicer to finish on a race where I feel like I've given it my all," Archibald said. The host nation ended on top of the medals table with their best showing in terms of golds since 2016 with the Netherlands second and the United States third. Britain's fifth gold was provided by the flying Finucane. (Reuters)