JUS AMAZING – Those may be the only those two words that can describe Njisane Phillip’s perfect run at the 2012 Pan American Cycling Championships in the Sprint Event. Phillip showed his true merit, determination and proved why he should be representing Trinidad & Tobago at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He first distanced himself from all non-believers and doubters when he set a new track record in the qualifying flying 200m with a time of 10.377s; his closest rival was just over 10.5 seconds. There was no stopping the speedster after that as he won all his races in fine form.
He took out Penaloza (CHI) in the 1/16 Final, then Hugo Barette (CAN) in the 1/8 Final and the perennial threat of Travis Smith (CAN) in the quarter-final in two straight rides. After a night’s rest, the rain in Mar del Plata tried in vain to spoil the show as it delayed the start of the evening session by about 30 minutes.
There was no dampening of Njisane Phillip’s spirit nor no rain on his parade!
He marched into the final after disposing of Fabian Puerta (COL) again in two straight rides to set up a neutral’s dream final with Hersony Canelon (VEN). Arguably, the two fastest men in the Western Hemisphere, Canelon held the upper hand on Phillip in their last two meetings. At the 2011 edition of the Pan Am Championships, Njisane went down to Canelon in the Semi-Final round as he went on to win the title. Then again in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara the Venezuelan would get the better of Phillip at the same hurdle.
Added to this, Canelon skipped out on the London World Cup two weeks prior and thus had the fresher pair of legs to the Siparia native. But as the old adage goes, “where there is a will, there is a way” and Phillip certainly found it.
Once again and true to form, he won in two straight rides to become the 2012 Pan American Champion in the Sprints! From our calculations, T&T would have now amassed 173pts and Venezuela with 133pts, thus T&T should jump ahead of Venezuela in the COPACI Olympic ranking by a marginal 3 pts. This is truly an amazing feat when we take into consideration that before the season began Trinidad & Tobago was 237pts behind the first place country at the time.
Njisane becomes T&T’s first Pan Am Champ since Christopher Sellier’s masterful 1km Time Trial triumph in 2010. Tomorrow we start over once again as Quincy Alexander is expected to line up in the Keirin event from 8:00am (T&T Time).
Once again, huge congratulations go out to now the undisputed fastest man in the Western Hemisphere and the 2012 Pan American Champion – MR. NJISANE PHILLIP!
Take a bow because you truly deserve it!
FULL RESULTS:
1. Phillip, Njisane (TRI) Gold
2. Canelón, Hersony (VEN) Silver
3. Puerta, Fabián (COL) Bronze
4. Bottasso, Leandro (ARG)
5. Marin, Jonathan (COL)
6. Smith, Travis (CAN)
7. Veloce, Josep (CAN)
8. Watkins, James (USA)
9. Gatto, Matia (ARG)
10. Barrete, Hugo (CAN)
11. Blatchford, Michael (USA)
12. Mansker, Kevin (USA)
13. Cipriano, Falvio (BRA)
14. Borges, Dieferson (BRA)
15. Marcano, Cesar (VEN)
16. Alesander, Quincy (TRI)
17. Horta, Rubén (MEX)
18. Perruchoud, Pablo (ARG)
19. Jair, Tjon En fa (SUR)
20. Verdugo, Edgar (MEX)
21. Silva, Andrés (CHI)
22. ROMEO, Davi (BRA)
23. Larrañaga, Miguel (MEX)
24. Peñaloza, Felipe (CHI)
25. Guillen, Marco (CRC)
26. Alvarado, Javier (CRC)
27. Acosta, Favio (CRC)
Source: http://www.facebook.com/notes/trinidad-tobago-cycling-federation/njisane-phillip-pan-american-champion/10150660131343586?notif_t=note_tag