Emma Finucane didn't know what she was doing. That was exactly the point.

The cyclist from Carmarthen, Wales had never competed in a 1,000m time trial before — it's a new event that made its first-ever appearance at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. It's a strange race: halfway between a sprint and an endurance event, pulling together skills from opposite ends of cycling. Finucane wasn't sure she could even do it.

"I went into it not knowing what I could do because I'd never really done one before," she said. "I just had to hurt myself as much as I could, and I did."

She hurt herself all the way to gold.

Finucane crossed the line in one minute 05.285 seconds — fast enough to hold off England's Sophie Capewell and New Zealand's Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews. It was her third gold medal of these Games, making her the first Welsh woman ever to win three gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games.

The 23-year-old had already won the sprint and the team sprint earlier in the week. Now she has one more race left: the women's keirin on Sunday. If she wins that, she becomes the most successful Welsh athlete in Commonwealth Games history — man or woman.

Only two other athletes from Wales have ever won three golds at one Games. David Morgan and Andy Phillips did it in weightlifting in Auckland back in 1990. That was 32 years ago.

"I came into these Games wanting to win a gold," Finucane said. "To do it three times, I did not think would happen to me."

Fellow Welsh cyclist Malkolm Roberts also had a night to remember. He rode to silver in the women's scratch race — yes, men compete in that event — finishing just one point ahead of Australia's Georgia Baker. It was his first individual medal at these Games after already winning bronze in the team pursuit.

"We're team-mates and really close friends," Roberts said of sharing the podium with the gold medalist. "We often room together, so to share that moment with her was just amazing."

Wales has been dominating the velodrome all week. Prince Louis even showed up wearing a bucket hat that read "Beicio Cymru" — Welsh for Welsh Cycling.

On Sunday, all eyes will be on Finucane one last time. "I've got one more event, so we'll just see what I can do," she said. Given everything she's accomplished in Birmingham, betting against her seems foolish.