Track Cycling World Championships 2022: Esow Alben creates history, Ronaldo Singh bags national record
India’s Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh, David Beckham and Rojit Singh were competing at the France meet.
After a disappointing outing at the Commonwealth Games 2022, Indian cyclists, especially Esow Alben and Ronaldo Singh, gave a good account of themselves at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships 2022, held in San Quentin, France from October 12 to 16.
Esow Alben created history by becoming the first Indian to qualify for the semi-finals of the senior Track Cycling World Championships. This was the first time that the Indian cyclist was representing his country at the senior level of the track cycling worlds.
The 21-year-old Esow Alben from the Andaman and Nicobar islands, finished 12th overall in the men’s keirin event, but not before setting a new landmark.
On his senior worlds debut, Esow Alben, 21, finished fifth in Heat 4 of the first round and seemed set for an early exit but a much-improved run in the first round repechage, where he finished second in Heat 3, qualified him for the quarter-finals.
In the quarters, Esow Alben finished third in Heat 2 to make the cut for the semi-finals. The semis race also saw another brilliant run from the Indian, who narrowly missed a place in the Final A by a margin of just 0.005 seconds.
Qualified for the Final B to determine the 7-12 positions, the Indian cyclist finished last and ended in 12th position.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, an Asian Championships silver medallist, clocked 9.910s in the men's sprint qualifying round to create a new national record in the 200m flying time trial category. However, it was only enough to earn him a 31st-place finish, missing out on the next round, reserved for the top 28 in qualifying.
David Beckham finished 24th in the men’s 1km time trial event’s qualifying round while the team of Alban, Esow and Rojit Singh came in 16th in the qualifying of the men's team sprint event.