Sports – Cycling
Athlete – Amber Joseph
Date: November 28, 2021
Name of Event: Junior Pan American Games 2021
Location of event: Cali, Colombia
Barbados Amber Joseph rode brilliantly in the Women’s Omnium but a missed break in the final event, the Points race and saw her chance of winning a medal at Inaugural Junior Pan American Games slip away from her. Joseph was competing at the Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome, in Colombia, and entered the fourth and final event that makes up the Omnium in second place. But a pivotal moment in the race was when four riders containing her main rivals broke away from the pack. These four riders worked together to push the pace and managed to lap the field which cost every lapped rider to lose 20 points on their tally.
Joseph was clearly a mark rider as she was never allowed to get too far away from the field like some of the other riders during this final race. Eventually she slipped from second at the start of the final event to 6th overall with 94 points. The Omnium is a points-based competition that comprises four different races, all of which award points toward a final ranking. The four bunch races are: Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race, and Points Race.
Joseph was third in the Scratch race (36 Points), second in the Tempo race (38 points) where she crossed the line third but gain enough points during the race to finish second; second in the Elimination race (38 points) and 8th in the Points race (-18 points) which was the final grueling event of the Omnium that last about 30 minutes.
The winner was Colombia’s Lina Gomez.
