WALTER ALIBEY

Senior Multimedia Reporter

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Nicholas Paul just missed out on a berth in the final of the men’s keirin on day two of the UCI Elite Track World Championships 2025 in Santiago, Chile, at the Penalolen Velodrome, yesterday.

In a hotly contested semifinals, which featured some of the fastest riders in the world, Paul occupied position four behind the derny, as sprint aces Harrie Lavreysen, a five-time Olympic gold medallist; Kevin Quintero, a winner of multiple medals at Continental Games; Leigh Hoffman, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games; and Bohdan Danylchuk of Ukraine all positioned in front of him.

However, an expected dash for positions as the derny left the track saw Paul, who set a flying 200-metre world record of 9.100 seconds at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2019, progress to the third position. But as the race entered the final 150 metres, Paul appeared to have given up the chase when Nikita Kiriltsev, who rides as an individual neutral athlete, collided with Paul’s back wheel and was sent crashing to the floor in despair.

Paul immediately ended his sprint for one of three qualifying spots, while Lavreysen, Quintero, and Hoffman secured the qualifying places.

Paul was the lone T&T rider to advance beyond the qualifying round after former Olympian Njisane Phillip failed to make it past heat four with a fifth-place finish. That heat was won by Colombian Kevin Quintero, with Leigh Hoffman of Australia joining him as the only two qualifiers from the heat stage to go into the quarterfinals.

Luca Spiegel of Germany, Ryan Dodyk of Canada, and Phillip completed the top five finishes, but all three went to the repechage, where Phillip, given a second chance at a quarterfinal berth, was third in heat three, needing to win to advance.

Paul, on the other hand, contested heat five of the qualifiers and won comfortably ahead of Matthew Richardson of Great Britain. But with only the top two riders advancing from the heat, both Paul and Richardson earned automatic entrance into the quarterfinal, though Shinji Nakano of Japan delivered a dogged display for the third-place finish.

In the quarterfinals, Paul joined with Kaiya Ota in claiming the positions of second and third, respectively, while Lavreysen and Tom Derache were third and fourth in heat two.

Meanwhile, Makaira Wallace progressed to the 1/16 round of the women’s match sprint after a 28th position in the flying 200 metres at 11.060 seconds. Wallace, who copped a silver medal at the Junior Track World Cycling Championships in China last year, was later paired with Mina Sato of Japan in the 1/16 round and lost.

The action continues today, with Paul set to contest the men’s 1-kilometre time trial and Akil Campbell to compete in the men’s points race.