Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul missed out on a bronze medal in the men’s sprint when the UCI Track World Cup concluded at the Hong Kong Velodrome in Hong Kong, China on Sunday.
Facing off with Australian Leigh Hoffman for the bronze medal ride off, Paul, who placed a disappointing tenth in the keirin on Saturday, was beaten into the second spot in both rides and had to settle for the fourth spot.
In the semifinals, Japan’s Kaiya Ota edged past Paul in two closely fought rides, while Great Britain’s Matthew Richardson won in two straight rides over Australian Leigh Hoffman, while European champion Richardson took the gold medal in two rides as well over Ota.
Earlier on in the men’s sprint flying 200m qualifiers, Richardson topped all entrants with a time of 9.391 seconds, followed by Paul at 9.459, Holland’s Harrie Lavreysen at 9.466, and Hoffman at 9.509 to secure the fourth and final automatic spot to the quarterfinals, while T&T’s other entrant, Njisane Phillip, was eighth fastest in 9.717.
Phillip then won his round-of-32 one-heat ride against Hong Kong’s Cheuk Hei To, who had qualified in the 25th spot in 9.939.
Up next was the last 16, where Paul easily defeated Australian Daniel Barber to secure his spot in the quarterfinals, while Phillip was beaten to the line by France’s Rayan Helal. In the quarterfinals, Paul won in two straight rides against China’s Zhiwei Li and was joined in the final four by Richardson, who beat Helal in similar fashion; Japan’s Kaiya Ota, who overcame a first-ride loss to stun keirin winner Lavreysen in three rides; and Hoffman, the winner over France’s Tom Derache in two rides.
In the women’s keirin, T&T’s Phoebe Sandy was sixth in heat four, while Makaira Wallace did not finish heat six along with the USA’s Emily Hayes.
In the women’s Omnium, Teniel Campbell was eighth in the second and final qualifying heat.
Campbell then rebounded from a last-place finish in both the scratch race and tempo race with a 19th placing in the elimination race and 20th in the points race.
The T&T cycling contingent, which also includes Akil Campbell, now moves on to Nilai, Malaysia, next weekend (April 24-26), at the end of which the final standings will not only serve to crown the overall winners but also shape the hierarchy as nations battle for qualifying quotas for the 2026 Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Shanghai, China, in October, and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA.
