Nicholas Paul through to Olympic sprint 1/16 final

TRINIDAD and Tobago cyclist Nicholas Paul advanced to the men’s sprint 1/16 final on August 7 after edging Japanese speedster Yuta Obara by “half a bike” on the finish line at the National Velodrome in Paris.

Against Obara in the 1/32 final, 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, Paul pushed his pedals valiantly on the final lap, caught Obara with 50m to go, and then pipped him on the line to advance to the 1/16 final.

In the earlier first round of qualifying – flying 200m – Paul advanced seventh fastest with a speedy 9.371s clocking.

However, he had has his flying 200m world record of 9.1 seconds broken twice in this round, as Australian Matthew Richardson (9.091s) and reigning Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen (9.088s) delivered statement performances.

Both advanced as the fastest qualifiers, with Israeli Mikhail Yakovlev (9.152s) the third fastest qualifier.

Up against Obara in the 1/32 round, Paul may have slipped up early on, but made amends in the final seconds of the race to advance to the 1/16 finals.

He takes the track once more from 11.30am (TT time). His opponent has not yet been named.

Also in the flying 200m, TT cyclist Kwesi Browne was unable to finish among the top 24 advancing cyclists. He clocked 9.773 seconds, and came 26th of the 30 contending riders.