Makaira Wallace won a silver and bronze medal, and Syndel Samaroo, a bronze as the duo combined to add three more cycling medals for T&T on the final day of competition at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games at the National Cycling Centre in Balmain, Couva on Thursday.
The 17-year-old Wallace, fifth in the women’s Match Sprint final ended her campaign on a high when she first claimed the bronze medal in the women’s 500m Time Trial final in a time of 36.791 seconds with an average speed of 48.925 kilometres per hour to secure the bronze medal.
Taking the gold was Australian speedster Liliya Tatarinoff in 36.034 at an average speed of 49.968 km/h while Scotland’s Sarah Johnson took home the silver in 36.214 at an average speed of 49.705 km/h.
T&T’s other competitor, Alexia Wilson was ninth best of the 11 riders in 40.655 after clocking an average speed of 44.275.
In the six-rider Keirin final, Wallace improved by one spot to a well-deserved silver medal in 12.309 seconds, to finish behind Johnson who won in 11.969 with Tatarinoff, in the bronze medal spot in 12.367 while Wilson was last home in 15.031.
Earlier in the day, Wallace sped to victory in heat one of the Keirin heats in 12.569 seconds, followed by Tatarinoff in 12.605, and Malaysia’s Ann Tung Yong, who clocked 12.632 to secure her spot in the final.
And in semifinal heat two, Wilson crossed the finish line in 12.744 for the second spot behind Malaysia’s Alyssa Nur Mohd Farid who won in 12.302 while Johnson qualified in the third spot in 12.966.
Samaroo, who earned a Match Sprint silver medal on Wednesday night, won his second medal in two days, with a third-place ride in the men’s Keirin in 11.620 seconds to trail gold medalist Tayte Ryan of Australia who took home the gold medal in 11.392 while Malaysian rider Darwish Muhd Sanusi got silver in 11.462.
With the three medals won at Couva and the bronze in the Mixed 4x100 metres relay at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, it took T&T’s final medal haul to 15, inclusive of four gold, five silver and six bronze to close out the one-week event in the seventh spot on the medal table from 70 participating countries who participated in seven sporting disciplines (beach volleyball, cycling, rugby sevens, fast5 netball, swimming, athletics, triathlon) across T&T.
Also yesterday, in the men’s Points Race, T&T duo Jadian Neaves, and Titus Bharat finished in the last two positions of the 12-man field with minus-40 points each.
Scotland’s Calum Moir raced to the gold medal with 29 points while Welshman Sam Fisher took silver with 24 points, and Australian Noah Blannin, third with 14 points, the same as fourth-placed Malaysian Newjoe Lau.
The local pair of Danell James, and Raul Garcia also failed to medal in the men’s 1,000m Time Trial.
This after James, who won Match Sprint bronze on Wednesday ended in the eighth spot with a time of one minute, 10.435 seconds, with Garcia, tenth of 11 competitors with a time of 1:11.074 minutes.
Ryan rode away with the gold medal in 1:03.663 with Moire securing the silver in 1:03.923, and Malaysia’s Hafif Mohd Jaffri, the bronze in 1:04.944.
T&T medals won so far
Gold
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 200m freestyle
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 100m freestyle
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 100m butterfly
Nikoli Blackman (swimming): men’s 50m freestyle
Silver
Janae De Gannes (athletics): women’s long jump
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 50m backstroke
Syndel Samaroo (cycling): men’s Match Sprint
Jaidi James (athletics): men’s high jump
Makaira Wallace (cycling): women’s keirin
Bronze
Sanaa Frederick (athletics): women’s 100m
Danell James (cycling) men’s Match Sprint
Zarek Wilson (swimming): men’s 50m freestyle
Makaira Wallace (cycling): women’s 500m Time Trial
Syndel Samaroo (cycling): men’s keirin
Sanaa Frederick, Trevaughn Stewart, Sole Frederick, Jamario Rusell (athletics): 4x100 metres Mixed Relay
Position*Teams*Gold*Silver*Bronze*Total
1*Australia*26*17*20*63
2. England*16*20*10*46
3. Scotland*12*11*5*28
4. South Africa*6*6*7*19
5. Kenya*5*4*0*9
6. Nigeria*5*2*0*7
7. T&T*4*5*6*14
8. Northern Ireland*4*2*2*8
9. Wales*3*6*6*15
10. Cayman Islands*2*1*3*6
11. Canada*2*1*0*3
12. Jamaica*2*0*2*4
13. Jersey*1*2*2*5
13. Malaysia*1*2*2*5
15. Guyana*1*1*1*3
16. New Zealand*0*3*6*9
17. Bahamas*0*2*2*4
17. India*0*2*2*4
19. Fiji*0*1*2*3
19. Uganda*0*1*2*3
21. Sri Lanka*0*1*1*2
22. Barbados*0*0*2*2
22. Isle of Man*0*0*2*2
22. St Lucia*0*0*2*2
22. Namibia*0*0*2*2
26. Antigua & Barbuda*0*0*1*1
26. Cyprus*0*0*1*1
26. Grenada*0*0*1*1
