Njisane sprints to Fire on Wheels gold

TT cyclist Njisane Phillip pedalled to gold in the men’s sprint in an event dominated by TT cyclists at the PSL Cycling Club Fire on Wheels UCI (International Cycling Union) Class II meet at the National Cycling Centre in Balmain, Couva, on Saturday night.

Facing former top TT junior cyclist Nicholas Paul in the final, Phillip’s experience counted as he won in two consecutive rides in the best out of three final. The top finishers were all from TT as Keron Bramble and Kwesi Browne battled for third in the bronze medal ride. After losing the first race, Browne won race two and three to claim the bronze medal.

Earlier in the semifinals, two-time Olympian Phillip, who had a fourth place finish at the 2012 London Games, got past Bramble in two straight rides and Paul also took two rides to defeat Browne in the other semifinal contest.

In the women’s sprint final, Mexican Yuli Paola Verdugo claimed gold after defeating Canadian Amelia Walsh in consecutive rides.

Taking the bronze medal was Guatemalan Nicole Rodriguez who defeated Jamaican Dahlia Palmer.

TT endurance cyclist Akil Campbell had to settle for fourth position in the men’s omnium, which is an event comprising four events – scratch race, tempo race, elimination race and a points race. Campbell finished third (36 points) in the scratch race, fourth (34 points) in the tempo race, sixth (30 points) in the elimination race and grabbed 19 points in the points race to end with 119 points.

Canadian Derek Gee ended with 205 points to claim gold, ahead of his countryman Michael Foley who grabbed silver with 133 points. Barbadian Jamol Eastmond of Heatwave took bronze with 125 points.

Enrique De Comarmond of Heatwave Cycle Club/TT won the junior men’s elimination event ahead of D’Angelo Harris (TT/Rigtech Sonics) and Aaron Alleyne (TT/Phoenix). The second and final day of the meet took place yesterday.