Paul grabs 3rd Pan Am gold, Phillips hails outstanding Trinidad and Tobago team

FORMER national cyclist and ex-TT Cycling Federation (TTCF) president Michael Phillips has hailed the impressive performances of the local contingent at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Paraguay, after TT's gold-medal haul stretched to four on the final day on April 6.

Competing at the National Olympic Velodrome in Ascuncion, sprint phenom Nicholas Paul clinched his third gold medal of the games when he pedalled to victory in the men's 1km time trial.

Having already secured the team sprint gold and the individual sprint gold at the championships, to go along with silver in the keirin, Paul was determined to add more silverware to his haul on the final day.

The speedster showed good form in the early rounds of the time trial as well, as he qualified with the second-fastest time behind Colombia's Cristian Ortega. Paul clocked 59.669 seconds in the qualifying round, with Ortega being timed at 59.514.

In the final, Paul went one better as he was able to push Ortega into second. The 26-year-old Paul claimed the gold with a blistering 59.729, with Ortega taking the silver medal in one minute, 372 seconds (1:00.372). The Canadian pair of James Hedgcock (1:00.798) and Ryan Dodyk (1:01.059) finished third and fourth respectively.

Phillips, whose cycling career saw him medalling at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and the Pan American Cycling Championships, said the country's performance at the games was all the more impressive by the all-round efforts of all the cyclists.

"These cyclists continue to keep the flag flying high, particularly with the gold medals. The times were also very good times. Njisane Phillip coming back and getting a (team sprint gold) medal after that lay-off and gap...I'm particularly proud and pleased about his performance," Phillips told Newsday on April 6.

"TT, as an entity, as it comes to track events, continue to be one of the more dominant countries, particularly in the sprint events. If you measure TT's performance in cycling against other sports in the hemisphere, it's pretty outstanding. Not only that, but these are multiple medallists, which is the other thing the sport continues to do.

"That's really the critical thing for us because if you take into consideration, the Pan American region includes Panama and the US and all of these countries we'd love to be able to score a few goals on in football," Phillips said.

On April 5, Paul retained his sprint title when he defeated Colombia's Kevin Quintero, while endurance cyclist Teniel Campbell pedalled to gold in the women's points race. On April 2, the men's sprint trio of Paul, Phillip and Ryan D'Abreau got TT's first gold medal of the games when they beat Colombia and Mexico into first and second to top the podium.

Meanwhile, in the women's elimination on April 3, Campbell also showed her consistency and mettle when she earned a bronze-medal finish.

Phillips was pleased to see the growth of TT's cyclists and their ability to produce on the world stage.

"I'm really happy for Teniel. Seeing all of these cyclists from kids going up through the ranks...it's something else to see them grow up and be as successful as they are right now.

"Hats off to everyone who has contributed to the riders' successes."

Phillips also has one wish for local cycling's growth and appeal to the younger generation.

"For me, one of the things I'd like to see happen is that there will continue to be or have more dynamic events on the calendar to encourage younger people to come through. So yes, there's that emulation factor in seeing the brightest performers on that international stage. I think one of the things that has to happen is that the events that we have, start to mirror the standard we would have seen in the 1980s and early 90s here in TT."