Alexander snatches Pan Am bronze

Trinidad and Tobago’s cyclist, Quincy Alexander, claimed the bronze medal in the 1km Men’s Time Trial at the 2017 Pan American Track Cycling Championships on the final night at the National Cycling Centre, Couva. The local contingent ended the tournament with a total of two Pan Am medals – silver in the Team Men’s Sprint and Alexander’s bronze – to finish ninth on the overall table.

The United States grabbed a total of 13 medals inclusive of eight gold, three silver and two bronze as they defeated Canada for the nation leaving with the most medals. Canada ended with 11 medals (four gold, four silver and three bronze) while Columbia’s team came in third with 10 medals, also with four gold, four silver but two bronze. During the final day events, the 1km Men’s Time Trial saw Colombia’s Fabian Puerta securing the gold with his time of 1:01.49, followed by his compatriot Santiago Ramirez 1:02.02 in second and TT’s Alexander in 1:03.31 in the bronze position.

Speaking to Newsday about the TT’s performance at the Pan Am Championships, manager of the local contingent, Joel Browne, stated, “I think things went nicely as we expected the sprinters to do well in the team event as they got the Pan Am silver. We were expecting to do a little better in the Keirin, however, with Bramble’s injury and the high quality competition, Kwasi Browne’s fifth positioning was not a bad result.”

Focusing on the sprint and team pursuit, he said, “Our top sprinter, Njisane Phillip, got a puncture while doing the Flying 200M, and it is a bit difficult to recover from such a setback. Both the men and women’s Pursuit teams performed above our expectations, especially the female team as it was their first time.

“All things being equal, I think all riders did their best in the competition and we certainly hope they continue to work hard, especially the newest sprint team as they have a lot of potential moving forward and have only been training together for two weeks.”

Teniel Campbell placed seventh in the Women’s 500M Time Trial with her time of 36.58 seconds. Mexico’s Jessica Salazar took gold in the event with her ride of 34.39 seconds as she was closely followed by Martha Bayona of Colombia in 34.63 seconds. Mandy Marquardt secured the bronze for the United Stated with her time of 35.18 seconds. TT’s Jessica Costa placed 16th in the race. Campbell placed ninth overall in the Women’s Keirin as the event was won by Bayona of Columbia. Marquardt, representing the United States, came in second while Mexico’s Daniela Gaxiola secured the final podium spot with the bronze.

The Men’s Madison event saw United States’ team defeating Argentina to take the gold medal after accumulating 35 points. Riders Zachary Carlson and Zachary Kovalcik held off Thomas Contte and Sebastian Trillini of Argentina as they only secured 27 points. Colombia rode away with the bronze medal with 26 points provided by their cyclists Jordan Parra and Edwin Avila.

The Pan Am Championships ended on Sunday night as the continental contest, which brought together over 150 cyclists from 20 countries, gave tickets for athletes to the upcoming track cycling tournament of the XXIII Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, scheduled for next year in Barranquilla, Columbia.