TRINIDAD and Tobago cyclist Makaira Wallace placed ninth in the women’s elite keirin event at the class-one Grand Prix Framar in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 11.
Competing in heat two of three, Wallace was third fastest of the seven riders and did not automatically advance to the medal race.
She was forced to contest the repechage race - a final chance of advancing - with the winner guaranteed a spot in the first to sixth place final.
However, the double-Commonwealth Youth Games medallist produced another third place finish, and was forced to contest the seventh the 12th place final.
There, she pedalled to fourth place and ninth overall.
Winning the keirin crown was Polish speedster Nikola Sibiak, while the Colombian pair of Martha Pineda and Yarli Quiceno rounded off the top three respectively.
Later on in the women’s sprint, Wallace, 18, was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Colombian Pineda. After advancing with the eighth fastest time (11.764 seconds) in the flying 200m round, Wallace locked horns with Anna Jabornikova of the host nation in the round of 16.
She eventually defeated her opponent and progressed to the quarter-final stage, where she met Pineda once more. The Colombian reigned supreme and moved on to the semis.
On May 12, she resumes her UCI points quest at the class-two Grand Prix Praha in Prague. Wallace vies for honours once more in the sprint and keirin events.
Wallace is in Europe to gain UCI points towards qualification for top events at the start of the next Olympic cycle.
In her first meet on European soil on May 4 and 5, at the Grand Prix June in Prague, she placed eighth in both sprint and keirin.
Wallace is joined there by her JLD Cycling Academy coach, two-time Olympian and multiple national sprint and keirin champion Njisane Phillip, and mother Cori Wallace.
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