[UPDATED] Nicholas Paul ousted in men's cycling sprint, Keshorn chases third Olympic medal

NICHOLAS Paul, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most promising Olympic medal hopefuls at the Paris Games, was eliminated in the men’s sprint 1/8 final at the National Velodrome in Paris on August 7.

After losing by four-thousandths of a second to three-time Olympic medallist and Englishman Jack Carlin in the 1/8 finals, Paul was forced to contest the 1/8 repechage against Australian speedster Leigh Hoffman and Japanese Yuta Obara.

With the winner only progressing to the August 8 quarter-final round, Paul placed third and was eliminated, with Obara – who was beaten by Paul in 1/32 round – winning the repechage and advancing.

From the get-go, Hoffman pedalled ahead of the pair with Obara in second and Paul trailing. However, as the race progressed, Paul surprisingly laid back. Hoofman, realising he could open up a gap between him at the top and a somewhat distant Paul, did just that.

As Hoffman launched an early sprint, Obara reacted faster and kept close to the Australian, leaving Paul with much work to do.

When the bell for the final lap rang, Paul was still several bike lengths behind as Obara and Hoffman challenged for the lone quarter-final spot. In the end, Obara pipped Hoffman on the line to seal his place in the final eight, as Hoffman was second and Paul third.

In the opening round of sprint qualifying earlier on, Paul advanced as the seventh fastest qualifier (9.371s) in the flying 200m after Australian Matthew Richardson (9.091s) and reigning Olympic sprint champion Harrie Lavreysen (9.088s) broke Paul’s world record in this event.

TT’s Kwesi Browne, who also contested the flying 200m event, was unable to finish among the top 24 advancing cyclists. He clocked 9.773 seconds, and came 26th of the 30 contending riders.

Paul progressed to the 1/32 final where he left it late against Obara and edged him on the line for the win. Here, Paul had to play catch-up, as a lack of concentration in the first lap caused the Japanese to get ahead of him and snatch an early sprint lead.

However, the TT rider pushed his pedals valiantly on the final lap, caught Obara with 50m to go, and then pipped him on the line by “half-a-bike” to advance to the 1/16 final.

There, he outwitted Japanese rider Kaiya Ota competing in the eighth and final heat. Paul and Ota rode slowly over the first lap with the TT rider maintaining a fair lead.

However, at the mid-point of the race, Paul made an unorthodox early break which caught Ota by surprise. Paul exploded quickly and opened up a bigger distance ahead of a late Ota.

The TT cyclist never looked back as Ota could not catch up, and Paul flew over the finish line to deliver a well-executed performance to advance to the 1/8 final.

Up against three-time Olympic medallist Jack Carlin of England in the 1/8 final, the duo battled valiantly for the automatic quarter-final spot. Carlin, however, proved better and did well to match Paul’s speed and pip him on the line for the win.

The photo finish was used to decide the overall winner with Carlin coming up trumps, just four-thousandths of a second faster than Paul.

His loss here pushed him to the 1/8 repechage where he met Hoffman and Obara, and placed third.

Paul and Browne return to the National Velodrome track on August 10 for the opening round of men’s keirin qualification.

Meanwhile, double-Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott climaxes his hunt for a possible third Olympic medal when he begins the men’s javelin final from 2.25pm (TT time).

Walcott is the third of 12 competing finalists to throw the spear. The final consists of six rounds of one throw each. After the end of these six rounds, the athlete with the longest valid throw is declared winner.

Walcott advanced to the final after producing the 11th best throw in the qualifying round which comprised two groups of 15 athletes each. He landed the spear on 83.02m, 98cm short of the automatic qualifying distance.

The TT thrower has his work cut out in the medal event since the likes of reigning Olympic champion and Indian Neeraj Chopra, two-time World Championships gold medallist and Grenadian Anderson Peters and 2022 European champion Julian Weber all threw over 87m in their respective qualifying rounds.

Additionally, Portious Warren begins her women’s shot put qualifying campaign on August 8 from 4.25am. She is the fourth of 16 throwers in Group B and will have to execute flawlessly to make it into the advancing 12 finalists.

All athletes meeting the tough qualification standard of 19.15m or at least the 12 best performers automatically advance to the medal round, which gets under way on August 9 from 1.37pm.

Warren has never thrown over 19m in her career and has a personal best of 18.75m and season’s best of 18.16m.

Also, from 5.10am, Michelle-Lee Ahye and Paris Olympic women’s 100m semi-finalist Leah Bertrand return to the Stade de France track for round one of the women’s 4x100m relay. Joining them on the team are Sole Frederick, Akilah Lewis and Sanaa Frederick (reserve).

They run out of lane two in heat two of two and have the slowest season’s best time (43.22s) coming into the race.

On August 9, the men’s 4x400m team of Jereem Richards, who placed a credible fourth in the men’s 400m on August 7 in a national record time of 43.78s, Renny Quow, Shakeem Mc Kay, Jaden Marchan and Elijah Joseph (reserve). They face the starter from 5.05am.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Nicholas Paul, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most promising Olympic medal hopefuls, did not advance to the men’s sprint quarter-finals at the National Velodrome in Paris on August 7.

After losing by four-thousandths of a second to three-time Olympic medallist, Englishman Jack Carlin, in the 1/8 finals, Paul had to contest the 1/8 repechage against Australian speedster Leigh Hoffman and Japanese Yuta Obara.

With the winner only progressing to the August 8 quarter-final round, Paul placed third and was eliminated, with Obara – whom Paul had beaten in the1/32 round – winning the repechage and advancing.

From the get-go, Hoffman pedalled ahead of the pair, with Obara in second and Paul trailing. However, as the race progressed Paul surprisingly lay back. Hoofman, realising he could open up a gap between him at the top and a somewhat distant Paul, did just that.

As Hoffman launched an early sprint, Obara reacted faster and kept close to the Australian, so Paul had much work to do.

When the bell for the final lap rang, Paul was still lengths behind as Obara and Hoffman challenged for the lone quarter-final spot. In the end, Obara pipped Hoffman on the line to seal his place in final eight, and Paul wasa third.

In the opening round of sprint qualifying earlier on, Paul advanced as the seventh fastest qualifier (9.371s) in the flying 200m after Australian Matthew Richardson (9.091s) and reigning Olympic sprint champion Harrie Lavreysen (9.088s) broke Paul’s world record in this event.

In the 1/32 finals, Paul left it late against Obara and edged him on the line for the win. He then defeated another Japanese cyclist, Kaiya Ota, in the 1/16 final, which set him up against Carlin in the 1/8 final.

Paul and fellow TT rider Kwesi Browne return to the National Velodrome track on August 10 for the opening round of men’s keirin qualification.