Sprint star Emma Finucane should lean on her teammates to handle the pressure as she gears up for a debut Olympic Games, reckons Jo Rowsell.

The 21-year-old from Carmarthen shot to fame with World Championship individual sprint gold in Glasgow last year.

Now, Finucane head to Paris 2024 with big external expectations and comparisons to two of Britain’s greatest-ever female sprinters.

“It seems like Emma is dealing really well with the comparisons seem to be made with Victoria Pendleton, who has won two Olympic gold medals,” double Olympic champion Rowsell, who'll be working with Eurosport and discovery+ for their Olympics cycling coverage, said.

“And Becky James who is Welsh like Emma, who won two silver medals, so we have had some real superstars in the GB team for women’s track sprinting.

“But for the last Olympic Games we only had one rider and there was a bit of a gap in terms of the development riders coming through but they have all come through with a bang now.

“And they seem to be dealing really well with the pressure as a team because they have got each other, it isn’t just Emma on her own they also have the team competition.”

The team sprint kicks off Team GB’s hopes of a track cycling medal on 5 August, with Great Britain’s women winning silver at last year’s World Championships having won bronze a year earlier.

Finucane is joined on the women’s sprint team by the experienced Katy Marchant and fellow debutant Sophie Capewell.

And while Finucane was under pressure from within the cycling world in Scotland last year, the whole of Britain will be watching with bated breath this summer.

Rowsell, who won two golds on the track, added: “Emma won her first World title a year ago in Glasgow and I was just super impressed with how she dealt with the pressure of those championships.

“Because going into it, everyone was talking about her, she was still very young and relatively unknown but within the cycling world everyone was saying she had the form and she dealt with everything that week so brilliantly. 

“She crashed out of the keirin but bounced back for the sprint the following day and they had a brilliant ride in the team sprint as well.

“I am really looking forward to seeing Team GB in the women’s sprint which is on the first day of the track cycling. 

“We came second at the world championships in Glasgow, we are well up there for a medal. 

“We didn’t even qualify for the last two Olympics so to even be on the start line is huge news for that squad and the development they have had. 

“But for Emma, she has got that on day one and the sprint competition and I believe the keirin as well so plenty of events for Emma.

“So far I have been impressed with how strong she has been given how young she is and how new this is all to her, she is still relatively new to competing at this level but she seems to be taking it all in her stride and dealing with it brilliantly so fingers crossed she can be pull it off in Paris.”

Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics