Trinidad and Tobago completed their 2024 Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships campaign in Lima, Peru, with eight medals.
Lone female cyclist Makaira Wallace showed good form with her three-medal haul (women's sprint and 500m time trial silver and keirin bronze), Jadian Neaves snagged two (men's omnium silver and points race bronze) and Danell James (men's keirin bronze) and Jelani Nedd (men's sprint silver) earned one individual medal each, in addition to team sprint silver.
TT Cycling Federation (TTCF) president Rowena Williams showered praise on the group and was pleased to see them succeed at this level.
'Excellent performances, records being broken. Kudos to the cyclists and their coaches. They would have put in the work and reaped the rewards of their hard work, focus and determination. We want to congratulate the team,' she said.
En route to sprint silver, Wallace set a new elite women and junior flying 200m record by stopping the clock on 11.361 seconds. She battled through the rounds but went down to World Junior keirin champion Stefany Cuadrado Florez in the sprint final.
Williams added that girls' and women's cycling remains top priority in TT, as the federation seeks to bolster the talent pool. She credited Wallace's growth as an athlete as she prepares to enter the elite category in 2025.
With Teniel (Campbell) and Alexi (Costa-Ramirez) doing their thing on the road and track, to have the juniors like Makaira and others coming up, we're happy.
'Makaira has been knocking on the sprint door for the females. Kudos to her, I know she's a very focused individual. Her aim is to prepare herself for 2028 and she's going on that strength and we continue to support her.'
Before Wallace joins the elites, she and compatriot Syndel Samaroo, who both medalled at last year's Commonwealth Youth Games, are hoping to close off 2024 with performances at the Junior World Track Cycling Championships, which pedal off in Luoyang, China, from August 21-25.
Williams confirmed the pair is close to qualifying for Junior Worlds and that the racing committee will meet for the final selection of the team in the near future.
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