T&T's Nicholas Paul Takes Silver In Elite Men's Sprint At International Belgian Track Meeting

T&T's Olympic-bound cyclist Nicholas Paul gave a hint of what to expect in Tokyo, when he snatched Silver in the Elite Men's Sprint event at the prestigious 2021 International Belgian Track Meeting. In his first competitive outing since returning to the UCI Training Centre in Switzerland late last year to prepare for the Olympics, Paul took a ride off seven-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny of Great Britain, but lost the next two rides and had to settle for the Silver. The Pan Am Sprint Champion and Record Holder gave early warning with a blistering 9.858-seconds clocking in the Flying 200, to qualify third fastest among the 29 entries in the Sprint event. He went three rides in the Semi Final against Suriname's Jair Tjon En Fa, a teammate of his at the UCI Centre. TT's other Olympic-bound rider, Kwesi Browne, the Keirin specialist, also saw action in Belgium but after qualifying 17th fastest with a time of 10.406 in the Flying 200, was eliminated in the round of 32 by Daan Kool of the Netherlands. Both local riders are expected to get more valuable racing just prior to the Olympics when they compete in the two Nations' Cup events in Hong Kong in May and Cali, Colombia in June.