NICHOLAS PAUL continued to show why he is the future of cycling in Trinidad and Tobago as he won gold in the men’s sprint (his third medal overall) of the 2016 Junior Pan American Cycling Championships at the National Cycling Centre in Couva, last evening.
Paul overcame Colombian Kevin Quintero in the final to win gold on the closing night of the Pan Am Games at the National Cycling Centre which hosted its first major event since opening earlier this year. Snatching bronze was Quintero’s countryman Juan Arenas.
Paul showed he was in contention for a medal when the men’s sprint event began as he finished fourth in the qualification round with a time of 10.643 seconds.
On Saturday, Paul, Chaquille Henry and Jabari Whiteman earned silver in the men’s team sprint behind Colombia. On Sunday he got another silver medal, in the men’s keirin final, behind Colombians Duban Urrego (gold) while Quintero earned bronze.
On Tuesday, in the women’s sprint, the TT duo of Jhordan St George and Dominique Lovell finished 14th and 15th respectively.
Colombia continued their dominance grabbing two of the first three spots. Colombians Adriana Ximena Daza Rincon and Camila Guerrero Rojas grabbed gold and bronze respectively while Andrea Valentina Ortiz de la Cabada of Venezuela took silver.
In the six-event men’s omnium, TT ’s Jabari Whiteman finished seventh overall with 147 points.
Juan Jose Ramos Zapata of Colombia won gold with 259 points, Mexican Fernando Islas Lopez was second with 220 points and American Luke Mullis snatched bronze with 198 points.