Paul claims 1km time trial gold at Elite Pan Am Cycling

Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Nicholas Paul was in golden form again at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships as he prevailed in the men's 1km time trial on the final day of competition at the National Olympic Velodrome in Ascuncion, Paraguay, on April 6.

Having already secured the team sprint gold and the individual sprint gold at the championships, to go along with silver in the keirin, Paul was determined to add more silverware to his Pan Am haul.

The speedster showed good form in the early rounds of the time trial as well, as he qualified with the second-fastest time behind Colombia's Cristian Ortega. Paul clocked 59.669 seconds in the qualifying round, with Ortega being timed at 59.514.

In the final, Paul went one better as he was able to push Ortega into second. The 26-year-old Paul claimed the gold with a blistering 59.729, with Ortega taking the silver medal in one minute, 372 seconds (1:00.372). The Canadian pair of James Hedgcock (1:00.798) and Ryan Dodyk (1:01.059) finished third and fourth respectively.

On April 5, Paul retained his sprint title when he defeated Colombia's Kevin Quintero, while endurance cyclist Teniel Campbell pedalled to gold in the women's points race.