Njisane misses sprint semis in Switzerland

TWO-TIME Trinidad and Tobago Olympic cyclist Njisane Phillip, 33, showed he still has something left in the tank, by reaching the men’s sprint quarter-final of the Track Cycling Challenge - Grenchen 2024 in Switzerland on December 14.

Phillip, representing his Just Living Daily (JLD) Cycling Academy, did well to progress through the three first rounds of competition, but was unfortunately relegated in the quarter-final race for a lane infringement against German Luca Spiegel.

In the first qualifying ride — flying 200m — Phillip was impressively eighth fastest of the 28 advancing riders. Phillip, the former national record holder in this event, before speedster Nicholas Paul burst on the scene, clocked 10.076s.

Up against Martin Cechman (Czech Republic) in the round of 32, Phillip won the single-race showdown and sealed a spot in the round of 16. He proved both prior performances were no fluke when he dispatched another Czech rider Jan Po Izek in one race.

However, in the two-race quarter-final, Phillip lost the opening ride to Spiegel and was then relegated for an infringement in the second race.

TT youngster Devante Laurence also contested the men’s sprint but did not make it past the first round after clocking the 33rd fastest time of 10.774s.

Meanwhile, TT female cyclist Makaira Wallace was unable to progress to the keirin round two.

Wallace was fifth in heat two of three and was forced to contest the first round repechage for a final chance of advancing. With only the top two finishers moving on, she finished fourth, with the Czech duo of Veronica Jabornikova and Kate Peterkova taking the one-two finish.

Providing support to the TT riders was Switzerland-based Paul.

This is Wallace and Laurence’s first UCI class-one event.