Cycling president optimistic despite medal-less Jr Pan Ams

Trinidad and Tobago concluded a medal-less campaign at the 2023 Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Paraguay on Sunday.

Syndel Samaroo and Raul Garcia capped off TT’s participation with seventh and ninth place finishes in the men keirin finals respectively while Makaira Wallace was tenth in the women’s equivalent.

The three athletes were unable to finish among the top two riders in their respective opening round heats and were then made to contest a place for seventh to twelfth.

For the males, Samaroo topped the seven to ten final while Mexican Luis Camacho was eighth, and Garcia ninth overall. Winning gold in the medal race was Argentinian Alejo Btique while Colombian Francisco Jaramillo took silver and Venezuelan Alberto Torres, bronze.

Additionally, after Wallace did not make the cut for the medal race, she found it hard to get going in the seven to ten final. She placed fourth of the four contesting riders, finishing tenth overall.

Winning gold was Bolivian Maria Cuadros, silver was taken by Argentinian Valentina Mendez and bronze by Colombian Stefany Cuadrado.

Looking back on TT’s performances, Wallace also finished sixth in the women’s 500m time trial and ninth in the sprints, Samaroo was eliminated in the men’s sprint quarter-final, him and Garcia were ninth and 12th respectively in the men’s 1km time trial and TT’s trio of Garcia, Samaroo and Jarel Mohammed placed fourth in the men’s team sprint.

Despite being unable to medal, TT Cycling Federation president Rowena Williams praised the team’s work ethic.

“We want to congratulate the entire team on their performances this week. We know the cyclists would have worked very hard to get to this point. They’ve worked and deserve to be recognised for their excellent performance. While they did not win medals, their performances were still exceptional.”

She believes the Pan Am meet served as a good measuring stick for TT junior cyclists ahead of this nation’s TT hosting of the Youth Commonwealth Games in August.

“Thanks to the management team who worked with and supported them. We continue to work with the cyclists as they get ready to compete at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

“We know the exoerience out there would definitely help them and give them the motivation to work harder and see to bring home medals in 2023. They would have that motivation and push for more.”

Steve Nakhid served as team manager, Elisha Greene as coach/mechanic and Delia Maria Toppin-Lopez as chaperone.