Nicholas Paul working on strength, tactics for 2025

AFTER several years of sacrificing family time to train at his base at the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago sprint cyclist Nicholas Paul is finally home for the Christmas holiday.

Paul, who recently won the TT Cycling Federation’s male athlete of the year accolade, expressed pleasure to be back at his Gasparillo home.

Despite anticipating the traditional Christmas food and drinks, Paul has already set his sights on more success at the 2025 Pan American Track Cycling Championships and UCI Track World Championships.

To achieve these goals, Paul's quest for improvement continues.

He said, “I want to work a lot on my strength and my tactics; those are the two biggest things I would be working on. I’ve actually already started.”

The 26-year old speedster had another busy year of competition in 2024, competing in UCI Nations Cups, Pan Am Champs, his second stint at the Olympic Games and the five-stage Champions League.

He kicked off this year by capturing his third First Citizens Sportsman of the Year title and a Nations Cup sprint bronze in Canada, in March.

In April, he retained his Pan Am Champs sprint and keirin titles in the US before charting off the Paris for his second Summer Games.

Up against the world’s best, Paul was unable to get past the men’s sprint 1/8 finals and keirin quarter-finals rounds.

Then across three weeks of racing in France, Netherlands and England in November at his second Champions League, he finished a credible fifth overall in the sprints.

Looking back on his eventful year, Paul said, “The 2024 season was a great one. I will always thank God for health, strength and guidance all the time. It’s always hard at the Nations Cup but I had some great performances.

“Also, it was a great Olympic Games for me. I didn’t get the result I wanted but I still had good performances and put my best foot out there and left it out all on the track for TT. That was great.

“The Champions League was a great way to end the year and, overall, I’d say 2024 was a good year for me.”

With each race, he said, comes several learning experiences, which he hopes to implement into his training regimen for the coming season.

“For each event, I take away some good lessons: racing wise, tactically, and being able to know my body a bit more. I think this year was a great learning year for me,” he added.

There has not been any confirmation on when the Pan Am Champs will be held in 2025 but Paul remains fixated on dominating the regional track once more.

Likewise for the World Champs, which will be held from October 15-19 in Chile, Paul wants to add a third medal to his haul.

The first Nations Cup is scheduled for March in Turkey.

“2025 it’s not an Olympic qualification year but the big goal would be for World Championships and Pan American Championships. I’m looking forward to those events.”

Paul will resume training in Switzerland in January.