Trinidad and Tobago cyclists Makaira Wallace and Syndel Samaroo added three more medals to the nation’s overall 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games haul as they closed off the cycling events in fine style at the National Cycling Velodrome in Couva on Thursday.
Wallace, who had a tough time on the opening day of sprints, rebounded strongly to capture women’s keirin silver and 500m time trial bronze.
JLD Academy club-mate Syndel Samaroo notched bronze in cycling's curtain event, the men’s keirin final.
In the women’s gold medal race, Wallace maintained a close position behind the durney (motorised bike) for the opening three laps to ensure she had a slight advantage heading into the final three.
When the durney exited, the race sprung to life immediately with Wallace and Scotland’s Sarah Johnson leading the six finalists. With two laps to go, a sprint ensued with Johnson leading and Wallace in hot pursuit.
The TT cyclist pumped her legs chasing Johnson on the final lap but the Scottish rider stayed ahead to capture gold while Wallace held on to a deserving silver medal.
Australian Liliya Tartarinoff battled to bronze while Malaysians Nur Alyssa Farid and Ann Tung Yong and TT’s Alexia Wilson rounded off the top six respectively.
In the keirin first round, Wallace topped heat one while Wilson was second fastest in heat two; both automatically advanced to the final.
Earlier on, Wallace showed grit in the time trial and did well to complete the distance in 36.791s, to claim bronze. Tartarinoff won gold in 36.023 and Johnson silver, in 36.214s. Wilson was ninth in 40.655s.
And in the men’s keirin final, Samaroo had to dig deep to ride to bronze in a hotly contested race. But in-form Australian Ryan Tayte continued his dominance as he topped the field, followed by Darwish Sanusi of Malaysia.
Speaking after her performances, a relieved Wallace, initially a triathlete, expressed pleasure to close off the Games with podium finishes.
“Definitely feels good to redeem myself. I had the confidence and just tried to believe, coming back from Tuesday. I honestly underestimated the competition a little on the first day so I just tried to stay focused and be humble and get ready for today in the best way that I could.
“It’s a big accomplishment for me. I just started track cycling recently so it’s amazing."
She credited the coaching of Olympian Njisane Phillip for her success.
[caption id="attachment_1029753" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A Trinidad and Tobago player leaps to defend in a Commonwealth Youth Games match vs St Vincent and the Grenadines at the Shaw Park indoor court on Thursday. - David Reid[/caption]
"He’s the biggest influence alongside (ex-TT cyclist) Elisha Greene. Our coaches are the best and they really have helped us get ready for these Games for the past few months,” Wallace said.
Samaroo was also delighted with his haul.
“It feels great. I wanted that gold but it’s still good I was able to stand on the podium today. It was a tough final but I tried my best. The mistake I made her
