Ace cyclist Teniel Campbell opens up about road to recovery, battles with mental health

Trinidad and Tobago ace female cyclist Teniel Campbell opened up about her mental and physical struggles as she battled with injuries in 2022, and her road to redemption after missing out on automatic qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics earlier this year.

Campbell, TT Olympic Committee’s (TTOC) Sportswoman of the Year for 2022, gave an emotional feature address at the TTOC’s 2023 awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain on Friday night – breaking down several times as she recounted the adversity she experienced in the last 24 months.

In July this year, Campbell created history when she became the first TT woman and the first black woman to complete the gruelling eight-stage Tour De France Femmes Avec Zwift, which features the world’s best female road cyclists. The team Jayco Alula cyclist also registered a sixth-placed finish at the Elite Pan American Road Cycling Championships women’s time trial event in Panama back in April. However, TT’s lone female cycling Olympian did not land all of her lofty targets for 2023, as she missed out on “Olympic time trial qualification by 14 seconds.”

Campbell said missing out on qualification for the Paris Olympics had little to do with her technical ability or God-given talent. She said it was caused by the psychological effects of serious injuries she sustained in March and October 2022, which not only shattered her aspirations for the season – but nearly brought her cycling world crumbling down around her as well.

“To think, ten months ago I could not walk and I lost my muscles. Ten months ago, I could not turn a pedal on my bike. Ten months ago, I could have died,” Campbell said at the TTOC awards on Friday.

“Ten months ago, I was told I could miss three-quarters of my cycling season and not to expect my full strength when I returned, only to rise above and turn eight months of rehabilitation into five months.”

In March 2022, Campbell sustained broken teeth, a busted chin and had to undergo several dental surgeries after being involved in a crash during a race in Gent, Belgium. She worked her way back into top shape and copped three medals at the Pan American Track Championships in Lima, Peru in August 2022. However, as Campbell put it, “the worst was yet to come.”

On October 23, 2022, Campbell had a major collision at the Elite Caribbean Road Championships in the Dominican Republic. What was initially thought to be a minor injury, turned out to be a major setback for Campbell as she was diagnosed with a partial rupture to her patella tendon.

“I sat on that hot pitch and the moment I saw how my knee was busted open, I said ‘Lord help me. This is not it, this is not it. My cycling career cannot end there.’

“From initially hearing in Santo Domingo it was just a small chip on my knee, to being out of competition for eight months, I said ‘no, I am not accepting this.’

“I did not know how, but I knew I needed to get back up and get back up on time. There was no questioning God at that time. I accepted the cards were dealt and I worked tirelessly towards my return to competition.”

Campbell’s brother and fellow TT cyclist Akil Campbell, and mechanic Kevin Tinto were two of the people who helped her through a rough time in Santo Domingo after the cyclist discharged herself from hospital. In the months following her October 2022 crash, Campbell dug deep and used the anxiety and “rage building inside” to fuel the drive to get back to her sharpest. The road to resume pedalling was no easy task.

“With glory, there are also setbacks and hard days, mental health (struggles) and plateauing performances, which I have all been through. Each time I brought my head above the waters, there was something trying to drown me again.”

After creating history at the Tour de France Femmes in July 2023, Campbell contested the UCI Road World Championships a few weeks later – falling just shy of Olympic qualification in the time trial.

“To fall short of automatic Olympic selection by holding on to a trauma and the fear of crashing again,” Campbell said, pausing in her speech as she tried to regain composure. “How am I supposed to deal with what people will think of me? Have I failed myself and my country?

“I have defied all odds and in the end, I succumbed to fear and missed my biggest calling. I seek comfort in the fact that I gave it my best shot and it simply was not my time. Physically, I was partially recovered. Mentally, I was not.” Campbell said missing out on Olympic qualification is not the end of the world, and she is looking forward to events such as the UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland in September and the monuments of cycling.

“To every athlete, to every person in this room, remember, you can start late, you can start over, you can lose it all, fail again and again, yet still succeed. It always gets harder right before you level up.”