T&T’s junior cyclists went medal-less on the final day of the Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships yesterday in Lima, Peru; however, the team finished fifth overall.
Two days after Kyra Williams claimed a bronze medal in the match sprint event, which was the country’s second medal of the tournament, she failed in her bid for a second individual medal by finishing ninth overall.
The Colombian pair of Mariana Perez and Valeria Hernandez dominated the 1-6 places final by taking the top two positions, first and second, respectively.
Mexican Fernanda Trujillo secured the bronze medal, while the trio of Michelle Manzi (Venezuela), Beatriz Suaza Lopez and Arielle Greaves completed the final three positions of fourth, fifth and sixth.
Meanwhile, both Jovan Ramroop and Judah Neverson missed out on medalling also in the kilometre time trial. Neverson, a gold medal winner in the team sprint, did not make it to the final, finishing 16th in the qualifiers, which is well outside the top eight required to make it to the final.
Ramroop eased his way into the final with a seventh-place finish in the earlier qualifiers, and in the final, he could not better his placing, crossing the line in seventh place with a time of 1:05.798 at a speed of 54.712.
Robert Farrier, national coach, said he was pleased with the riders, as the team was not as experienced as previous teams but still gave decent performances. With the team-sprint gold and the bronze medal from Williams in the match sprint, Team TTO ended the tournament in fifth position overall, behind the eventual winner, Colombia, with 26 medals. Chile secured second with 14, and Mexico took the third-place finish with eight medals overall.
Farrier said the tournament was of tremendous help to the experience of the young T&T riders, all of whom were very competitive. “I think the performances were really good. We got two medals, and once you get a gold medal, it gives you additional points. With the gold coming in the team sprint, it shows that the team sprint is an event that we can always do well in at all competitions.
The T&T team is expected to leave Peru this morning to return home.
