Nicholas Paul won gold and Akil Campbell bagged bronze for Trinidad and Tobago on the second day of racing at the Pan American Elite Track Cycling Championships in Santiago Chile, yesterday.
Paul took top spot in the men’s keirin, while his teammate Njisane Phillip finished fourth. Meanwhile Campbell was third in the Men’s scratch race, bringing T&T’s medal haul to four—two gold and two bronze—after two days of racing.
The USA’s Grant Koontz took silver and Bermuda’s Conor White won gold in the 40-lap scratch race.
But it was the T&T sprint cyclists who created a buzz after flying through the keirin event to put the other sprinters on notice.
Paul led off the riders in the final, with Phillip holding on to fifth place at the start.
In the final stages, Paul held off a challenge from Colombia’s Kevin Quintero before eventually sealing first place. Phillip was also in medal contention on the final lap but faded on the inside in the straight, eventually finishing behind Canadian Nick Wammes who took the bronze.
Earlier, in the first round of the keirin, Paul stormed across the line in second place in a fast Heat One behind the USA’s Dalton Walters. He was just 0.096 seconds adrift of the leader who stopped the clock at 10.071 seconds. It was enough for both men to secure automatic progression to the next round. Brazil’s João Vitor da Silva was third in the heat.
Meanwhile, in Heat Four, veteran sprinter Phillip was dominant in crossing first in a time of 9.994 seconds at 72.043 km/h to clinch his spot in the next round. Lucas Oscar Vilar of Argentina and Edgar Ismael Verdugo Osuna of Mexico placed second and third respectively.
Colombia’s Cristian Ortega and Quintero won their respective heats in 9.868 and 10.035 seconds respectively.
In the first semi-final, Paul settled into fourth place at the start of the race before unleashing a burst of speed to take the race in 9.895 seconds. He finished ahead of Quintero and James Hedgcock of Canada who were second and third respectively.
In the second semi, Phillip was in third place at the start but moved to the front and stayed there to win ahead of Wammes and Vilar who were second and third respectively. Phillip clocked 9.895 seconds in the semis.
Wallace stopped in 1/4 finals
Also yesterday, T&T’s female sprinter Makaira Wallace was stopped at the quarter-final stage of the women’s sprint.
Wallace defeated Mexico’s Luz Daniela Gonzalez in the first ride but lost the second and third to bow out of the event.
Earlier, in the qualification round, Wallace was sixth fastest in 10.817 seconds, while teammate Phoebe Sandy was 15th fastest in 11.355. T&T’s other entrant, Kyra Williams was 24th with a time of 11.578. Canada’s Lauriane Genest was the fastest in qualifying with a time of 10.424 seconds.
Wallace went on to defeat Jamaica’s Dahlia Palmer in the 1/16 finals, but Williams lost to the USA’s Emily Hayes and Sandy fell to Guatemala’s Nicole Monteros.
Wallace went on to defeat Argentina’s Natalia Vera in the 1/8 finals before being eliminated by Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, T&T’s Alexi Ramirez finished eighth in the Women’s elimination race. Mexico’s Yareli Mendoza won the event with Cuba’s Marlies Garcie second and Chile’s Scarlet Ugarte third.
On the opening day of competition on Wednesday, Teniel Campbell opened the medal account for Team TTO, lapping the field to win gold in the Women’s scratch race while the Men’s team sprint trio of Zion Pulido, Kwesi Browne and Paul took bronze in 44.028 seconds, defeating the Mexicans (44.061) in the third-place ride-off. Canada won gold over Colombia in that event.
T&T’s male sprinters will be back on the track today for the men’s sprint.