Njisane sets personal best at Track Nations Cup

NJISANE PHILLIP proved he still has some fuel in the tank when he advanced to the men’s sprint round of 16 of the UCI Track Nations Cup which concluded at the Konya Velodrome in Turkey, on March 16.

The two-time Trinidad and Tobago Olympian, who confirmed he’s still in international retirement, set a new personal best time of 9.443 seconds in the flying 200m, to qualify eighth fastest in the opening round of the sprint.

Into the round of 32, Phillip, 33, rolled back the years with a convincing victory over Hong Kong’s Cheuk Hei To in the one-race ride-off. There, Phillip clocked 9.45s and advanced to the 1/8 finals.

However, up against Japanese speedster Shinji Nakano, Phillip was beaten to the line by 0.095s in the one-race ride-off.

Riding on to gold later on was Englishman Matthew Richardson while compatriot Harry Ledingham-Horn took silver and French cyclist Rayan Helal claimed bronze.

Phillip’s fellow JLD Academy club-mate Makaira Wallace, who set a new national record of 10.784s in the women’s flying 200m the day before, missed out on a spot in round two of the keirin event.

In the opening round of keirin qualifying, Wallace placed fourth in heat three of six and missed out on an automatic spot in round two. She had one more chance via the repechage, but placed third, with only the winner progressing.

In other races on March 15, endurance rider Akil Campbell had a tough time battling through the four stages of men’s omnium. Despite qualifying eighth fastest in heat two of two, Campbell placed 20th in the scratch race, 16th in the tempo race, 14th in the elimination and 18th in the points race.