Trinidad and Tobago’s Wallace wins second World Jr Cycling medal

MAKAIRA Wallace closed her historic account at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in China, on August 25, with her and TTO’s second medal at the event.

Wallace, 18, copped silver in the women’s keirin, after placing second in the time trial the day before at the Luoyang Velodrome in Luoyang.

She was just 0.309 of a second behind multiple gold medallist Stefany Cuadrado Florez of Colombia, who clocked 11.232 seconds in the keirin final.

Cuadrado edged Wallace to first place in the first round by 0.064 seconds, sending three other riders into the repechages.

However, Wallace, coached by former national cycling champion Njisane Phillip, bossed her way to medal contention, winning the second semifinal heat in 11.393 seconds.

On August 22, Wallace shattered her and the national women’s sprint record in the flying sprint qualifiers.

Wallace set a new record of 11.361 seconds last year, but improved considerably in the sprint qualifier, clocking 10.874 seconds – nearly half a second quicker than the previous time.

It was also the second-fastest qualifying time.

However, she was eliminated at the 1/8 finals stage.

Wallace was at her best in the 500m time trial, clocking 34.376 seconds for a runner-up finish, agonisingly short of the dominant Cuadrado, who clocked 34.312 seconds.

Wallace finished the women’s sprint in ninth place after a close defeat at the 1/8 stage to Korean Yebeen Park by 0.02 seconds.

The Diego Martin native has had a fine year, coming off a pair of silver medals at the Pan Am Junior Championships, in the 500m time trial and sprint.

The men’s team representatives Danell James, Jelani Nedd and Syndell Samaroo saw mixed results over the five-day championships in China.

Although they managed a fast start – clocking 18.749 seconds to finish the first lap in third spot – the trio did not finish the men’s team sprint.

Samaroo bowed out at the qualifying round of the men’s keirin, and finished in 13th place, along with five other riders.

Samaroo finished in 12th spot in the men’s sprint, with Nedd placing 19th.

Samaroo clocked 1:03.242 in the qualifying round of the men’s 1km time trial and finished in 17th place overall. Australia’s Ryan Tayte won gold in the two events, breaking the world record in the latter 1km time trial in 59.875 seconds.

Neaves finished unranked in the men’s scratch event.

However, he placed seventh in the gruelling 25km points race final over ten sprints, sealing nine points.

Neaves placed 20th in the men’s elimination final. He placed eighth in the qualifying scratch race. Italy’s Davide Stella won gold.

Neaves, holder of two Pan Am Junior Championship medals, placed eighth in the men’s omnium (scratch, tempo, elimination and points races) with 76 points.

Belgium’s Matijs Van Strijthem won gold with 112 points, just one ahead of American Ashlin Barry.

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