Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Nicholas Paul kicked off his 2024 competitive season by capturing men's sprint bronze at the Tissot/International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong, China, on Sunday.
The 25-year-old speedster conquered Australian cyclist Leigh Hoffman in two straight rides of the third-place race.
Paul was a keen favourite to win gold, but was bettered by eventual Japanese winner Kaiya Ota in the semi-finals.
There, Ota defeated Paul in straight rides, and went on to trump Australian Matthew Richardson for the gold medal.
Before that, Paul eased through the earlier rounds after qualifying with the third fastest time, 9.597 seconds, in the men’s flying 200m. His top four finish at the first stage saw him automatically advance to the 1/8 finals.
Advancing with the top two fastest times were Richardson (9.555s) and Ota (9.583s).
Up against Englishman Truman Joseph, Paul cruised past his opponent in the one-ride match-up, and advanced to the quarter-final.
Into the quarters, Paul made light work of his Lithuanian opponent Vasilijus Lendel and sealed a semi-final spot after two victorious rides.
It was here that Ota executed a dominant display to trump the TT rider on both occasions, which pushed him into the bronze medal race.
Fellow TT rider Kwesi Browne also competed in the sprint event but did not advance out of the first round having clocked 10.008s. His time was 29th fastest of the 45 contenders.
Additionally, the TT duo contested the men’s keirin on Saturday, but neither could make it to the medal race.
Browne, however, still put on a valiant display to snag fifth place while Paul placed 11th, owing to a semi-final crash.
In the opening heats, Paul was second fastest in heat four of seven while Browne had the same finish in heat six. Both did not automatically advance to the quarter-finals and had one last chance to qualify courtesy the repechage.
There, both affirmed semi-final spots as Brown placed second in heat one amd Paul was runner-up in heat four.
At the penultimate stage, Browne showed grit in semi-final two and sealed a shot for gold by placing third.
Paul, on the other hand, crashed out of semi-final one after he and Malaysian rider Jai Angsuthasawit hit the deck. They were unable to complete their semi-final ride and did not feature in the 7-12 final. They placed a joint 11th.
And in the men’s omnium, TT’s Akil Campbell did not make it past the first round after finishing 13th in the second qualifier race.
The Hong Kong World Cup leg was one of three Paris Olympics qualifier events for the TT trio.
The remaining two Olympic qualifiers for them are the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championship in California, USA (April 4-7) and the Nations Cup in Milton, Canada (April 12-14).
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