Olympic journey continues for TT cyclists

AFTER a hectic competitive campaign at three legs of the Tissot International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup Series in China, New Zealand and Australia, the national team resumes its Olympic qualification training block on Monday.

Since November 20, athletes Kwesi Browne, Keron Bramble, Nicholas Paul and Njisane Phillip, have travelled thousands of miles hunting precious UCI points towards their Tokyo 2020 qualification campaign.

Having recently returned from this grueling quest in the eastern hemisphere, national coach Erin Hartwell expressed satisfaction with his team’s performances but admitted the job is not yet done.

“We’re back on the grind starting Monday with the intent to improve upon our World Cup performances at the upcoming event in Milton, Canada (January 24-26). This final World Cup will be our last hit out before the 2020 World Championships in Berlin—the final event of Olympic qualification,” Hartwell said.

The two-time Olympic medallist was especially pleased with TT’s display at the final leg, in Australia, where the team consistently achieved their required objectives, reliably proving they were among the elite in international sprint cycling.

“I’m most impressed that the squad has consistently hit the 43-second mark in the Team Sprint, including exceeding my best projections in New Zealand with that 43.3 second (ride),” he added.

“I like where we’re at; nevertheless, we’ll make some adjustments for Milton in a month and look to crack the podium for the first time in TTO history!”

Hartwell acknowledged the valiant efforts of his team and staff members, who braved many hours of competition and travelling to bolster TT’s chances of qualifying for a third consecutive Olympic Games in the sport of cycling.

He revealed the team did everything they could to mitigate the impact on the athletes from the change in time zones and the 15-hour flights.

Individual Performances

Individually, the veteran cycling coach held in high regard the maturity and never-say-die attitude exerted by TT’s cycling quartet.

Men’s Team Sprint – “Australia proved a little more difficult for us as, although we qualified fifth and ahead of Great Britain and Russia, we would have to face a strong Poland in the first round that would be using a fresh replacement rider with only 45 minutes between the rounds.

We made some adjustments and improved upon our qualifying effort in the next ride; however, Poland proved to have a little more gas in the tank as they took the ride and went on to grab the silver medal in the final. We finished sixth. Regardless, it was our most consistent World Cup series to-date with the guys getting through qualifying and into the critical rounds at each leg of competition.”

Men’s Keirin – “Kwesi Browne continues to improve in the keirin, making the major final for the first time in this World Cup campaign. He looked really strong in the days leading into the competition. I was confident that he could compete for a podium spot if the chips fell into place. Unfortunately, while he was well positioned in the wheel of 2017 world champion, Dennis Dmitriev, the Russian crashed and took Kwesi down in the process. Fortunately, Kwesi still grabbed a big handful of points in our push to qualify for worlds and the Olympic Games.”

Men’s Individual Sprint – “In Australia, Nicholas came into the Sprint following the Team Sprint much better than he had in New Zealand. We were able to manage his fatigue and recovery better in Australia. He qualified fourth with a career sea-level best of 9.623s and received a bye into the second round. There he would face a crafty Ethan Mitchell (New Zealand) in the 1/8 finals. Strong riding by Mitchell saw him pull ahead of Nicholas Paul at the line and advance to the 1/4 finals. Nicholas would ultimately finish tenth.”