'It’s going to be riding, riding until Paris' - Suriname's history maker Jair Tjon En Fa won't stop now

ByNick Christian

Updated 03/12/2021 at 10:40 GMT

Jair Tjon En Fa is the only Surinamese rider at the UCI Track Champions League, but this is far from the peak of his success. Nor was his 4th place finish in the Keirin at Tokyo where he hopes his career will level off. After this weekend's racing he heads home before returning to Switzerland at the start of next year with eyes firmly fixed on 2022: "it’s going to be riding, riding until Paris.”

As Suriname’s sole representative in the UCI Track Champions League, Jair Tjon En Fa is something special. At Tokyo 2020 however, he was arguably even rarer, as one of only two athletes representing the small South American republic. The other was swimmer Renzo Tjon-A-Joe.

Just making it to the Olympics was a massive achievement. Qualifying for the final of the Keirin was another level of special. It made him, he says, the most successful Surinamese athlete in almost thirty years and something of a rockstar back home.

“I was the first person from Suriname after Anthony Nesty to be in an Olympic final,” he says, “so they were very happy.

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“I was very happy in the Keirin. My team-mates were very stoked as well. So that was a big highlight of my career.”

Swimmer Nesty won a Gold medal in Seoul in 1988 and a bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

‘Absolutely remarkable’ – Jason Kenny storms to historic keirin gold

Tjon En Fa couldn’t quite make it into the medals, but is more than happy with his fourth-place result… for now.

He currently sits in a respectable 14th in the Champions League sprint standings, ahead of the likes of Japan’s Kento Yamasaki, and German veteran, Max Levy, who also made the Keirin final in Tokyo.

The 28 year-old, who trains full-time at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, has been impressed with how the first edition of the Champions League has gone:

“For track cycling I think it’s a pretty good event. All the publicity that it gets will make the sport a bit more popular. Track cycling is not very popular, compared to road cycling, so I think this is a very good initiative that’s been started.”

After the final race on Saturday, the rider returns to Suriname, before his focus turns to the next Olympic Games:

“My coach has asked us to go home now, and have a big holiday, because it’s going to be riding, riding until Paris.”

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The UCI Track Champions League returns for round three on December 3 and you can watch all of the action live on the Eurosport app, eurosport.co.uk and discovery+.

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