Wallace pedals to historic Jr Word track silver medal

T&T’s Makaira Wallace pedalled to this country’s first-ever medal at a UCI Junior World Track Cycling Championships when she earned a silver in the women’s 500m Time Trial at the 49th edition of the event at Luoyang Velodrome in Luoyang, China, on Saturday.

Competing in the final, Wallace improved on her speed from the qualifying round to cross the finish line in 34.376 seconds at 52.362 kilometres per hour (km/h) for the second spot behind Colombian ace Stefany Lorena Cuadrado Florez who had the fastest time of 34.312 at 52.460 km/h while China’s Shuyan Luo dropped one spot to third from the heats with a time of 34.407 at 52.315 km/h.

The others in the final were from fourth, respectively Australian Liliya Tatarinoffwith a time of 34.967, Great Britain’s Georgette Rand (34.973), China’s Mingying Lu (34.976), New Zealand’s Riley Faulkner (35.157), and Poland’s Natalia Walecka (35.241).

Earlier in the Qualifying heat of 24 riders, Wallace clocked 34.483 at an average speed of 52.200 kilometres per hour to be the third fastest among the eight to qualify for the gold medal ride.

Florez topped the field in 34.155 at 52.701 km/h while Luo was second in 34.333 at 52.428 km/h with her compatriot Lu (34.787), Rand (34.861), Faulkner (34.986), Tatarinoff (35.243) and Walecka (36.396), the others to qualify to the final.

Rowena Williams, the T&T Cycling Federation (TTCF) president praised the performance of Wallace saying, “A big congratulations to Makaira (Wallace) on being the first woman to bring home a silver medal.

“Congratulations to Wallace (Makaira) on breaking another national record and setting new standards and of course making T&T proud.

“We at the TTCF are very proud of what she has done and continues to do and we continue to support the efforts of the other members of the team as well to bring us glory.

‘These youngsters have really gone out there and are repping the red, white and black with great pride and we also encourage T&T to support them as well as they continue to work hard towards achieving their goals with their main target of getting ready for the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” said Williams.

Back in June at the Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships at the Velodrome Videna San Luis track in Lima, Peru, Wallace also had to settle for the silver medal in the women’s 500m final in 35.075 seconds with Florez winning gold in 34.674 and her countrywoman Mariana Perez Polo, third in 36.754.

She also played second fiddle to Florez in two straight rides in the best-of-three final Women’s Sprint final.

Last year on home soil, she won two medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games, a silver in the women’s Keirin and a bronze in the 500m.

Also in China on Saturday, in the men’s Omnium which consisted of four races, T&T Jadian Neaves, a bronze medal winner at the Pan American Juniors placed eighth overall.

Neaves was fourth in the Scratch Race (30 laps/7.5km) with 34 points; seventh in the Tempo Race (30 laps/7.5 km) with two points; 14th in the Elimination Race and seventh in the 80 laps (20 km) for a combined 76 points, the same as France’s Ellande Larronde.

On Sunday, Wallace will look to add to her silver when she competes in the women’s Keirin and will contest heat one of four alongside Florez, Greece’s Despoia Tourlim, Italia Matilde Cenci, and Korean Jia Kim with the top two finishers of the six-lap event advancing to the semifinals and the others to the repechage, where four riders will move onto the next round.

The Colombian will start as favourite for the gold medal having defeated Rand in a battle for the women’s Match Sprint gold medal while Luo got bronze.

Neaves also competes in heat one of the men’s Elimination 5km race against Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Majrashi, Israel’s Saar Idan, Hong Kong’s Shi Ho Cheung, Switzerland’s Elia Felsberger and Chinese Taipei’s Li En Chin with the last two finishers being eliminated ahead of the final.

Syndel Samaroo will also face the starter in the Men’s 1Km Time Trial qualifiers with the top eight advancing to the final.

At the Pan Am Juniors, Samaroo was a fourth-place finisher in the Men’s Kilometres Time Trial in one minute, 05.560 seconds at a maximum speed of 54.911 km/h.

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