Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s cycling team will not retain their team sprint title at the Pan American Junior Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, but were expected to ride for bronze late yesterday against Colombia.
The duo of Keiana Lester and Kollyn St George rode T&T into the top four with a 37.139 seconds clocking. The national record is 37.120, set by Denese Francis and Jodi Goodridge back in 2010.
Venezuela were scheduled to battle Mexico for gold yesterday. The Mexicans produced a superb 35.076 time in the seventh and final preliminary ride, more than a second better than anyone else. Venezuela stopped the clock at 36.136 riding first.
The other teams in the competition were Ecuador (38.820), Chile (39.722) and Canada, who crossed the line in 37.473, but were later disqualified. Colombia clocked 36.439.
The junior men also got into action yesterday, with Justin Roberts qualifying for the keirin second round by topping Heat One out of five riders. The top two from each of the three heats moved on to the next round.
The other T&T rider in the heats, Samuel Mahabir, finished third in Heat Three, and was set to line up in yesterday evening’s repechage round for a chance to advance.