The Trinidad and Tobago men’s sprint cycling team of Zion Pulido, Njisane Phillip, and Nicholas Paul secured the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday.
The trio doubled T&T’s bronze medal haul when they were awarded a default win over the Welsh trio of Lewis Oliva, Steffan Lloyde, and Ioan Hepburn after the latter failed to start their bronze medal ride.
The medal for the men’s sprint team was added to a bronze medal won by para-athlete Akeem Stewart in the men’s discus F42-44/F61-64 on Wednesday with a best effort of 56.82 meters.
Earlier in the morning session, T&T was third in the men’s team sprint qualifying heats in 42.817 seconds to finish behind the top qualifier Australia, who won in 42.754, with England second in 42.799, just 0.045 seconds ahead of T&T, while Wales ended in the fourth spot in 42.817, followed by Canada (44.131), Scotland (44.347), and India (46.396).
The Aussie team of Ryan Elliott, Leigh Hoffman, and Daniel Barber eventually won the gold medal in 42.455 seconds, with the English trio of Joseph Truman, Hamish Turnball, and Harry Ledingham-Horn having to settle for the silver medal with a time of 43.032.
<Richards, Bascombe advance to finals
Walcott goes after javelin gold>
Former 200m world indoor champion Jereem Richards and Shaniqua Bascombe both won their respective men’s 400m and women’s 200m semifinal heats to advance to their finals.
In the men’s 400m, 2018 champion Richards, 32, eased to victory in semifinal heat three from lane seven in 45.06 seconds and was joined in Friday’s final by Nigerian Edidiong Udo, who was second in 45.55, and South African Zakithi Nene, who crossed the line in the third spot in 45.70, earning a spot as one of two fastest losers.
The two qualifiers from semifinal heat two were Australian Thomas Reynolds, who won in 45.63, and Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga, the runner-up in 45.95, while Nigerian Samuel Ogazi topped the field in semifinal one in 44.52 to be the top qualifier to the final overall, with Botswana’s Lee Bhekempilo Eppie second in 45.26 and Jamaica’s Zandrion Barnes third in 45.38 to earn his place as the fastest loser.
In the third and final women’s 200m semifinal, Junior Pan American champion, 22-year-old Bascombe, stormed to victory in 22.31 seconds, a personal best time from lane five, to book a spot in the gold medal run today, with Lavanya Williams taking the other automatic spot from the heat as the runner-up in 22.71.
The British Virgin Islands’ Adaejah Hodge was the fastest qualifier overall to the final after her sizzling run in semifinal heat two in 22.01, a new games record, with Jamaica’s Ashanti Moore second in 22.49 for the other automatic spot, while Singapore’s Veronica Shanti Pereira qualified as the second fastest loser in 22.81, a season best.
In heat one, Australian Torrie Lewis won in 22.64 and qualified along with Jamaican Alana Reid (22.64), with England’s Success Eduan, third in 22.65, having the fastest time amongst losers.
<New Zealand hands Calypso
Girls fifth straight defeat>
Two-time Olympic javelin medal winner and 2025 world champion Keshorn Walcott advanced to the final of the men’s javelin today.
This was after Walcott, a silver medal winner 12 years ago in Glasgow, placed 11th with a best throw of 78.26 m on his first attempt of three, just ahead of the 12th and final qualifier, Nigerian Chinecherem Nnamdi, at 75.27 m.
Leading the list of qualifiers was Sri Lankan Rumesh Pathirage with a distance of 82.84 m, with Grenada’s Anderson Peters second with 81.29 m, and South African Douw Smit third with a distance of 80.64 m.
However, in the men’s triple jump qualifying round, T&T’s Kelsey Daniel was a non-starter.
Today, Tyra Gittens-Spottville will compete in the women’s long jump. Group B qualifying field of 12 athletes
T&T’s Calypso Girls’ underwhelming campaign in the 12-team women’s netball continued after a fifth straight heavy defeat, this time to world second-ranked New Zealand, 23-83.
Leading the charge for the Kiwis, who led 21-4, 41-13, and 64-18 at the end of the first three 15-minute quarters was goal shooter Grace Nweke with 34 goals from 36 attempts, while fellow shooter Amelia Walmsley also scored 34 goals, but from 38 attempts, with goal attack Martina Salmon adding the other 15 goals from 16 attempts.
For T&T, veteran shooter Afeisha Noel once again held her own in the shooting circle and scored on 21 of her 24 attempts with fellow veteran Joelisa Cooper, adding the two other goals from three attempts.
With the loss, T&T finished bottom of Pool B with a 0-5 record and will face Pool A’s cellar-placed team, Northern Ireland, who also ended with a 0-5 record, in the playoff for the 11th spot today.
