National cyclist, Njisane Phillip finished 21st in the Elite Men’s Sprint event on his debut showing at the Grand Prix of Germany, which pedalled to a stop in the Cottbus Velodrome yesterday.
Competing in his first European meet since the Summer Games last year, Phillip proved that he still has a lot of work to be done. Having qualified in the Flying 200m event with the 20th fastest time of 10.335 seconds, it was tough for Phillip to bunce back. Young sprinter Kwesi Browne also showed some heart and finished in 38th position among the tough line-up of world racers.
Winning gold yesterday was German cycling phenomenon, Robert Forstemann, who blazed to gold ahead of eventual silver medallist, New Zealand’s Sam Webster.
Receiving bronze was Russian rider Maximilian Levy, while Kiwi cyclists Simon Van Velthooven and Matthew Archibald finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the Flying 200m round, Forstemann qualified with the fastest time of a blistering 9.846s ahead of Webster (10.042s), Levy (10.065s) and Kiwi Edward Dawkins (10.090s) respectively.
Meanwhile, Phillip managed to hold on to a 10th place finish in the Men’s Keirin event while Browne was tied for 13th. Bagging gold in this event was Russian Maximilian Levy, as New Zealander Edward Dawkins and Malaysian Azizulhansi Awang snatched silver and bronze respectively.
The local duo are not likely to be too perturbed about this weekend’s performances since they only began their training camp in Berlin about a week ago. The TT riders will head back to the Berlin Velodrom tomorrow where they will continue to work under the experienced German coach, Emanuel Raasch.
Over the next couple of weeks, there will be several cycling meets in the Cottbus area and the local combination are expected to compete once more on German soil.