TRINIDAD and Tobago’s ace cyclist Nicholas Paul shrugged off the disappointment of the men's flying sprint event to comfortably book a quarterfinal place in the keirin event at the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on August 10.

Racing in the fifth and final heat of the six-lap event, the 25-year-old Paul took control of the race with roughly two laps to go and used his world-class sprint speed to hold off the challengers and win his heat.

With the top two riders automatically qualifying for the quarterfinals, Paul will be joined by Poland's Mateusz Rudyk for the next round. The quarterfinals will speed off from 5.29 am (TT time) on August 11.

Paul's team-mate Kwesi Browne, a ninth-place finisher in the keirin at the Tokyo Olympics, just missed out on an automatic qualifying spot after finishing third in heat four.

[caption id="attachment_1101660" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kwesi Browne of Team Trinidad And Tobago reacts during the track cycling men's keirin race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Izu, Japan. - AP Photo[/caption]

Israel's Mikhail Yakovlev, a bronze medallist at the 2021 World Championships, won heat four after making a decisive and clinical surge from the pack with two laps to go. Yakovlev finished well ahead of his competitors, with Browne just being edged out by Colombia's Kevin Quintero for the second spot.

Browne will have a second shot at booking a qualifying spot in the repechage rounds from 1.21 pm on August 10.

Browne will ride in the fourth and final repechage heat alongside Kazakhstan's Andrey Chugay, Canada's James Hedgcock and Colombia's Christian Ortega.

The top two riders from each repechage heat will advance to the quarterfinals.

The semifinals and final of the keirin event will cycle off from 6.29 am and 7.23 am respectively on August 11.

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