Top national cyclist Njisane Phillip intends to put his medical troubles and the subsequently mental anguish that has confronted him for much of this year, behind him, as he prepares to pedal and medal for T&T at this week's UCI Track Cycling World Cup.
The event is scheduled to take place in London. Phillip's medalled for T&T successfully last year, securing silver.
It was an historic achievement as it was this country's first medal from the event.
He told G-Sport the plan was for him to compete in both the keirin and sprint events.
The first round of both events according to the UCI schedule pedals off on Saturday.
Venue is the Lee Valley Velopark, which was the host venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and which Phillip admitted was cause of his d�j� vu.
The UCI Track Cycling World Cup was a global series where the world's best cyclists compete for the points that determined their international ranking and ultimately their qualification for the World Championships and Olympic Games.
Citing that the World Cup was an event that would pre-qualify him for Rio 2016, Phillip hoped to regain his composure and ultimately his champion spirit to do brand T&T proud.
Eleven months ago, Phillip was hospitalised in critical condition for seven days at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in California, USA.
Today, his medical team was no closer to understanding the cause of his ailment which caused his kidney to fail, too.
Since then, he had been in and out of clinic as specialists conducted further lasix renal scans and monitoring his creatinine levels.
His last check-up was in September. The doctors gave him the all clear to compete at the Pan American Games.
He said, "Everything was 100 per cent. It was a 100 per cent, but not to allow me to do something big at the PanAm Games. At the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow, Scotland, I thought I was ready mentally, but discovered I wasn't. I was having anxiety attacks. I wasn't really having any fun. I didn't enjoy the whole process at all. I just went through the motions. It was disappointing because I wasn't able to give 100 per cent for my country. These are things that we (the team) have to deal with.
Phillip added, "This would be the second world cup in London. I'm actually working very hard toward that right now because it would be the second time that I race at that track: the first time being for the Olympics (London 2012). So, it's definitely going to bring back a lot of memories. I want to show myself that I could definitely do big things by getting over the mental aspect of that whole thing. I'm just trying to get back on my game. I am definitely hungry for it. Every athlete has injuries that they have to overcome. It's definitely hard mentally just to get back there, because, it's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of sacrifice just to try and live up to who you were. We are doing what we have to do."
His training over the last six months focused on developing his strength and he felt good, citing that his times were going down, too
Phillip said, "I'm definitely ready to do something good at the World Cup. I'm just going to ride and have fun. Whatever result happens, happens. I'm just taking it one step at a time as I get ready for the Olympics (in Rio)."