PARIS, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Emma Finucane rode to gold medal with her teammates Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell in the opening track cycling event at the Paris Olympic Games on Monday and then said had raced with a "smile on my face."
The 21-year-old shot to fame last year when she won the world individual sprint and is tipped to possibly win three gold medals in Paris as part of the Britain team.
That expectation could have put some riders under pressure, but speaking after the British team had beaten New Zealand in the team sprint final, setting a new world record of 45.186 seconds as they did so, Finucane said she had worked to forget the pressure.
"It was a 'pinch me' moment (…) I've worked hard to deal with pressure in these Games and we all have: there two have really helped me," she said, pointing to Marchant and Capewell.
"I just want to enjoy riding my bike and I loved it out there (on the track). I smiled every second round that track. That's how I'm going to deal with it and obviously a gold medal to start is amazing," she replied to a question asked by Xinhua, before setting her sights on more success.
"I want to see how far I can get," she said.
An incredible team sprint competition saw the British trio set a new world record in all three of their 750-meter runs, which comprise three circuits of the Velodrome, but the British weren't the only team to break the record on the night, as Germany and New Zealand (who claimed bronze and silver on the night) also set momentary global bests.
"Going to the start line, we knew we had to execute perfectly, but I knew we could do that and looking up and seeing all the flags and the crowd," said Finucane, while Marchant had things clear.
"The competition is hot; it takes a world record to become an Olympic champion, we were driven by all the other teams, breaking world records as well."
"It takes a world record to become an Olympic champion and we did it," she said.
Several riders have commented before the start of competition that the track at the Velodrome is fast, but Capewell, also had something to say.
"We did our bit of work as well," she concluded. ■
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