Akil Campbell secured T&T’s first medal at the Pan American Track Cycling Championships when he finished third in the Men’s Scratch Race contested over 60 laps (15km) at the Velo Sports Center in Carson, California, Los Angeles, USA on Wednesday night.
The 28-year-old Campbell who also won bronze in last year’s Omnium event had to settle for the third spot behind Mexico’s Fernando Gabriel Nava who won in 17.44 minutes while Chile’s Cristian Arriagada took the silver medal in the 13-man event.
However, T&T’s Alexi Costa-Ramirez did not climb the medal podium as she could only muster an eight-placed finish in the 11-riders Women’s 10km Scratch Race final.
USA’s Jennifer Valente won the gold medal in 13.11 minutes followed by Canada’s Lily Plante and Barbadian Amber Joseph.
Nicholas Paul and Kwesi Browne booked their places in the semifinal round of the Men’s Keirin in contrasting fashion on Thursday.
This after Browne topped Paul, the recent winner of the 2023 First Citizens ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award finished second in the seven-man heat three, 0.036 seconds adrift of Colombian Cristian Ortega as both men advanced to the semifinals as automatic qualifiers while Browne was third in heat two behind Canada’s James Hedgcock, and Mexico’s Edgar Verdugo to secure a spot in the repechage round.
In heat two of the repechage, Browne won the 200m contest in 10.673 seconds with a top speed of 67.460 km/h to secure a spot in one of two six-man semifinals.
Last night in the semifinals, Paul, the reigning Keirin champion came up against Argentina’s Lucas Vilar, Canada’s Ryan Dodyk, Chile’s Joaquin Fuenzalida, Colombian Kevin Quintero, and Suriname’s Jair Tjon En Fa in the first semifinal while Browne rode against Hedgcock, Fuenzalida, Ortega, Ecuador’s Francisco Bone, and Verdugo in semifinal two with the top three riders in each event advancing to last night’s final while the next three in each heat qualified to the seventh to 12th ride off.
T&T’s duo of Makaira Wallace, a medal winner at last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games, and Phoebe Sandy in the 23-strong field for the Women’s Sprint Qualifying 200m (3.5 laps).
Wallace managed to secure a spot in the top 16 when she clocked 11.482 for the 13th best time while Sandy was 17th to just miss out with her time of 11.678, while Suriname’s Tachana Dalger was 16th in 11.655.
In heat five of the quarterfinals, Canada’s Sarah Orban, who was the fourth fastest in the Qualifying heats in 10.963 defeated Wallace in a time of 11.615 reaching a speed of 62.527 km/h with the local cyclist, 0.0118 seconds behind.
Last night, T&T’s Costa-Ramirez was due to compete in the Women’s 11-field Elimination Race final while today, Paul who pedaled to the Men’s Sprint bronze at the Tissot/International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong, China last month will begin defense of his Men’s Sprint title alongside Browne in the Qualifying 200m.
Last year, T&T won five medals at the Pan American Track Cycling Championships in San Juan, Argentina with Paul winning gold medals in the Match Sprint and Keirin events while he teamed up with Quincy Alexander, Browne, and Zion Pulido to take silver in the Team Sprint.
Paul also broke the track record at the Vicente Alejo Chancay Velodrome in San Juan, with a new best time of 9.439 seconds in the flying 200m
On Wednesday, when the championship began, the local men’s Team Sprint trio of Zion Pulido, Alexander, and Browne missed out on a medal after they clocked 47.437 seconds to lose out to eventual champions Colombia’s Ruben Murillo, Kevin Quintero, and Santiago Ramirez (43.750), the fastest time of all teams to advance in their ride off.
When the Men’s Team Sprint pedaled off with the Qualifying 750m (three laps) ride, Paul also sat out with the trio of Pulido, Alexander, and Browne combining for a time of 48.017 seconds to finish in the seventh and final spot.
Canada who finished with silver medals topped the qualifiers with a time of 44.581 followed by Colombia (44.632), bronze medal winners USA (44.890), fourth-placed Argentina (45.672), Mexico (46.002), and Brazil (46.921).
Costa-Ramirez will also be in action today again as she looks to improve on her silver medal in the Women’s Omnium with the Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race, and Points Race all carded for Friday.
