Football injury kick-started Paul’s cycling career

FIVE years ago, the thought of winning a medal of any colour in any sport at any international event was the furthest thing from Nicholas Paul’s mind.

It took an injury during his Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) career with his alma mater, Naparima College, for an invaluable opportunity to come knocking.

Two weeks ago, the Gasparillo native won three gold medals at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.

One came with a team effort from Paul and his relatively new teammates, Njisane Phillip and Kwesi Browne, who teamed up for the men’s sprint in a national record-breaking 43.873 seconds.

He earned the other two in the men’s 1km time trial and the men’s sprint – his specialty event.

In both cases, he triumphed ahead of cyclists over than a decade older and vastly more experienced in international competition.

Newsday visited the National Cycling Centre where several national athletes were preparing for the day’s training with TT Cycling Federation’s (TTCF) technical director Erin Hartwell.

Paul, 19, said bad luck as a 14 year old footballer paved the way for him to take riding seriously.

“I was a football player with Naparima College and I was injured, so we were just doing a little bit of cycling in the park for leisure and to keep fit.

And at a point, the coaches there saw me and told me that I can come into the club (Rigtech Sonics) and just start to ride. And eventually I just saw myself racing, and I just loved it and I continued cycling.”

After the invitation from Rigtech Sonics, he began focusing n endurance races on the road and track, before switching to sprints.

Paul made his club debut in 2014 at the Keep Fit Series in Arima, and raised eyebrows with winning performances in both the junior and juvenile divisions.

Two years later, Paul won his first gold medal representing TT.

At the Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships staged locally at the National Cycling Centre, he continued to demonstrate his talent by winning the individual sprint.

In Colombia last month, Paul’s stock rose tremendously with triple gold following spectacular rides, and even beating the World keirin champion in the sprint final.

Asked if his performance was beyond what he expected, Paul replied, “Every time I enter a competition, I set high targets for myself, so I went into CAC thinking about gold... But my own performance did surpass my expectations.”

He said he was pleased to give back to those who invested their time, money and belief in him.

“I know they (my family) are proud of my hard work and achievements, and I’m just glad that I can give them back something for all the hard work that they’ve done for me — including the finances — so I’m just pleased with that.”

Paul now trains daily as an elite national cyclist and gets “that extra push” from Hartwell.

Hartwell is a two-time American Olympic medallist who was previously contracted by the Sport Company of TT as a high performance manager.

As the TTCF technical director, he has an office at the National Cycling Centre, where he does his technical and tactical lessons with the elite cyclists.

“I can’t describe him (Hartwell), but just his professionalism is really, really high. Great training from him. Well, the coaches we’ve had before, just the structure, coming up from Mr Anthony Sellier to him (Hartwell) is just really great. I’m just seeing the progress in myself, my riding and racing.”

Paul has made his strides without being officially sponsored by a company. He also does not receive funding under the Ministry of Sport’s Elite Athletes Assistance Programme. And while he says he may now qualify for funding, he prefers not to think about it often.

“If it comes, it comes. And if it doesn’t, well, I just do with what I can.

“It would help,” he added. “Because as everyone knows, cycling is a really expensive sport. So, some type of funding would help. Right now, I’m on a bike provided by the Sport Company, but other than that, I buy my own stuff.”

In the CAC sprint final against Colombian Fabian Puerta, Paul borrowed a team-mates bike to match-up properly against his rival.

Asked what he looks forward to most in the sport, he replied: “The biggest thing is the Pan American Championships, which is our first qualifier to get points for the Olympic Games. For every cyclist that’s the goal –well at least it is for me. That’s my biggest goal, representing the red, white and black at the Olympics. At this point, I think I am on target.”