8 hours ago
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WALTER ALIBEY
Senior Multimedia Reporter
‘Excited’ is how the members of the T&T cycling team feel ahead of the start of the Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Santiago, Chile tomorrow.
The event is expected to pedal off with the team events, which include both the team sprint and the team pursuit, both of which T&T will be involved in. Sprinter Njisane Phillip, who skipped the team sprint, was replaced by Kwesi Browne in a team that consists of Browne, Zion Pulido and Nicholas Paul.
The team claimed a silver medal in 2023, and despite being out of the team, sprinter Njisane Phillip believes the trio can go all the way to a gold medal. The team continued to work on technique and speed yesterday at the race venue, along with the members of the team pursuit, who have been entrusted with the responsibility to bring back a medal, despite it being their first time competing.
The team consists of Jadian Neaves, Liam Trepte, Tariq Woods, and Akil Campbell, who delivered the country’s first-ever international medal at an endurance event. The team also worked out yesterday as the quartet, though they did not make the qualifying standard at the Trials last month at the National Cycling Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva, they are ready to face the starter’s gun.
“The boys and they ran the team sprint today, and they looked pretty good, the team pursuit as well. So, everyone is pretty excited,” Phillip said.
Asked if the times produced by the sprint team would be competitive, Phillip said, “I wouldn’t be able to say, I don’t know, to be honest. I mean, Thursday, we would know how things are going, but I mean, they didn’t really run a team sprint. They kind of just did. You know, just, I would say, more technique off the line and, yeah. So, they look pretty good. They look competitive. So, yeah, wishing them all the best. Team pursuit starts on Wednesday, and then everyone else is up and running on Thursday.”
Phillip, Paul and Browne will later contest the sprints and the keirin events, along with Makaira Wallace, Phoebe Sandy and Kyra Williams. The trio also competed in the women’s team sprint in the past, but Wallace pulled out. Phillip said that while he doesn’t want to make any suggestion, he thought the T&T Cycling Federation could have given another female rider a discretionary pick as they did for the men’s team, saying there are lots of riders who did not make the qualifying standard at the trials, but still, they were given discretionary picks.
Paul, once the fastest man on wheels, after recording a blinding 9.100-second ride in the flying 200 metres sprint at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2019, to erase the previous record of 9.347 seconds that was set by France’s Francois Pervis in 2013, would be key to the T&T success. He will go into action on Wednesday and then on Thursday in two of four events.
Phillip described Paul as more than capable of delivering in multiple events. “Yeah, I mean, you know, Nicholas is really, really strong. You know, I think he’s a guy who can definitely cope with the pressure as well as perform at the highest level. So, Last year, he did all four events and was successful in all, so, you know, we never count him out when he gets on the line. So, I know for sure that he’s really excited to race. And I know for sure he’ll put his best foot forward to help us get all the gold medals,” Phillip assured.
TT&T Team
Nicholas Paul, Njisane Phillip, Kwesi Browne, Zion Pulido, Makaira Wallace, Phoebe Sandy, Kyra Williams, Teniel Campbell, Alexi Costa, Akil Campbell, Tariq Woods, Liam Trepte, and Jadian Neaves.
Team Management
James Hey Manager/Coach
Elisha Greene – Mechanic
Kevin Tinto- Mechanic
English (US) ·