Hugo Barrette: Day’s fastest time, a crash and a relegation in one morning
Hugo Barrette set a Canadian record, had crash and got relegated all before the men's sprint quarterfinals. If there's a track cycling equivalent to a Gordie Howe hat trick, Barrette might have found it on Day 2 of the 2015 Pan Am Games track competition.
Hugo Barrette set the day’s fastest time, had crash and got relegated all before the men’s sprint quarterfinals. If there’s a track cycling equivalent to a Gordie Howe hat trick, Barrette might have found it on Day 2 of the 2015 Pan Am Games track competition.
In the qualifier, Barrette did a 200 m flying lap in 9.978, just 1/1000th off the Pan Am record set by Njisane Phillip of Trinidad and Tobago in Guadalajara in 2011. Phillip wasn’t able to break 10 seconds, completing the 200 m in 10.121. Barrette holds the Canadian record for the 200 m flying lap, which he set on Sept. 13, 2014 at the Pan Am championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, with at time of 9.746.
In the sprint 1/8 finals, Barrette faced off against. Flavio Vagner Cipriano of Brazil. Near the start of their three-lap heat, Barrette’s front wheel came in contact with Cipriano’s. Barrette hit the planks and slide down the steep bank. “That happens,” he said. “We’re extremely close. Those things happen often so I didn’t even put too much emphasis on it. It’s just another day in the office. So I just got back on.”
Barrette and Cipriano’s heat was run last. Barrette’s fellow team sprint rider, Joseph Veloce had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals by beating Santiago Ramirez Morales in the antepenultimate heat. Barrette’s second go, however, wasn’t to be a smooth one. He ending up riding on the cote d’azur to get around Cipriano. The Brazilian put up his arm in protest. In the end, the commissaire relegated Barrette to the repechage round. “I’m a little bit disappointed in myself for getting relegated,” Barrette said. “I tried to get into the sprinter’s lane and I wasn’t fast enough. I thought I had it. But I respect the commissaire’s decision. It was just a mistake and I can’t afford to make another like this.”
Barrette’s had to win in the repechage round to advance. He beat out David Espinoza (USA) and Jair Tjon en Fa (Suriname) with a time of 10.747. Freitas K Fonseca da Silva (Brazil) won the second repechage heat in 10.675. Barrette’s time was enough to advance to the quarterfinals that evening. The rider from Îles de la Madeleine, Que., said he wasn’t fazed by the mishaps because of his experience. “It’s happened to me so many times in my life,” he said. “I just refocused. You don’t want to overthink it. You respect the decision and go back and get the work done.”
