By Joe Chapman

GUYANA’S United States-based veteran cyclist, James ‘Joelyn’ Joseph, copped the silver medal in the Men’s 60-64 Sprint race at this year’s International Cycling Union (UCI) Masters Track Cycling Championships.

The championships ended yesterday at the Manchester Velodrome in the United Kingdom.
The Linden-born cyclist, in his heyday was one of the greatest Guyana had ever produced. He competed in the Men’s 60-64 age category Sprint, finishing second to Australia’s Gary Mandy in the final, as the bronze medal was copped by Aron Seiken.
Joseph was second at the 2017 UCI World Masters Championship Scratch Race two years ago, but was elevated to the gold medal when it was discovered that the winner had a doping violation and was disqualified.

A former Caribbean cycling champion, James Joseph, represented Guyana at the 1980 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics.
Speaking from the Manchester Velodrome, Joseph was delighted with his showing, saying it was another great experience to be at the UCI Masters World Track Cycling championships once again and to put Guyana on the world stage.

He told Chronicle Sport that earlier in the championship which started last Saturday, he had placed fourth in the 500m Individual Time Trial which was also won by the Australian Mandy in the world-best winning time of 33.94 seconds.

Mandy won from Aron Seiken who was second in a time of 35.023 seconds, as third came Carlos Daniel Zicado of Argentina in 36.080 seconds. Joseph placed fourth in 36.127seconds, while a British rider was next in 36.36 seconds.
Another former Olympian, Aubrey Gordon, also competed at the championship but was unable to medal.

It was two years ago that Joseph once again put Guyana on the world map when he broke the 200m Flying Start world record at the UCI World Masters Championship in California.
Then, like now, he was also competing in the 60-64 age-group where his time of 11.42 seconds in the Flying Start of the Match-Sprint race erased the previous record of 11.73, set by Victor Copeland of USA and this notably was achieved at the sea level atmosphere of California.

After qualifying in world-leading time for the match sprint, Joseph went on to win Guyana’s first medal at a UCI event when he finished second for silver behind Kirk Sato of the USA – the first of three medals.

He had competed in the 20-lap Scratch race, copping the silver medal, but following the doping violation by the winner, he earned the gold medal later. He sprinted to bronze in the 500m Individual Time Trial in 2017.