walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
The brother and sister pair of Akil and Teniel Campell clinched the bronze medals in the Men’s Scratch Race and the Women’s Elimination Race respectively at yesterday’s Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championship in Lima, Peru.
Akil, attempting to successfully defend a title he won a year ago to become the first T&T endurance rider to medal at an international event, gave up an early lead in the 16-kilometre/ 60-lap event. But he challenged Canadian Dylan Bibic and United States’ Grant Koontz in a desperate dash to the finish but had to settle for the third-place position.
Koontz took the gold medal and Bibic secured the silver, with Campbell satisfied to have sealed the bronze medal, knowing he had it all in his grasp at one time.
Venezuela’s Luis Gomez, Marcos Mendez of Argentina and Chile’s Felipe Pizarro took the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively. In 2021, Campbell had to come from behind to defeat Guatemala’s July Padilla and Barbados’ Jamol Eastman on the final lap for glory.
The other Campbell (Teniel) made a surprise return to the track after competing in road race events for the past couple years, to claim the bronze.
A few days after she finished sixth in the road race at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Campbell (Teniel) held out among a large competitive field to earn third behind the winner Sarah Van Dam of Canada and second-place Yareli Acevedo of Mexico.
Earlier, sprinters Nicholas Paul, a triple medallist at the Commonwealth Games and Kwesi Brown qualified for the semifinal of the men’s keirin after winning their respective qualifying heats.
Both men (Paul and Brown), having helped the country’s sprint team to the gold medal in the Team Sprint on Wednesday night, produced commanding performances in the qualifiers yesterday morning by winning heats two and five.
Up to last night they were both drawn in heat two of the semifinals alongside Santiago Ramirez of Colombia, Franco Victorio of Argentina, Joao Vitor (Brazil) and Mexico’s Edgar Verdugo.
Coach Gregory Dandrade said the team has been doing well and there may be more medals to be won.
“It was good to see Teniel coming back to the track and winning a medal, a great display by her. And well, her brother who didn’t perform as well as he expected in the elimination race had redeem himself. Good showing so far,” said Dandrade.
Meanwhile, Sylese Christian did not make it among the participants for the match sprint.
The T&T rider failed to advance from the qualifying 200 metres sprints early yesterday morning by finishing well outside of the 16 riders advancing by posting a time of 12.575 that put her at 24th out of 28 riders.
Canadian Lauriane Genest had the fastest qualifying time at 10.685 with her compatriot Kelsey Mitchell sealing the third fastest time by clocking 10.805. Colombia’s Martha Bayona produced a time of 10.783 that earned her the second-place finish in the flying 200 metres.
Action continues today with Teniel contesting the Individual Pursuit, Alexi Costa competing in the Omnium, Akil Campbell contesting the Points Race, and the trio of Quincy Alexander, Paul and Brown set to ride in the flying 200 metres event for a place in the match sprint.