T&T’s Nicholas Paul Misses Out on a Medal at Cycling World Championships

SANTIAGO, Chile – The high hopes of a nation were dashed on Sunday, as Trinidad and Tobago’s cycling sensation, Nicholas Paul, suffered a gut-wrenching defeat, finishing just outside the medals in the Men’s Sprint event at the 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships.

The 27-year-old Paul saw his campaign for a medal end in the bitterest of fashions, a fourth-place finish after losing the bronze medal race to Australia’s Leigh Hoffman.

The evening began with immense promise for Paul, who qualified strongly and powered through the earlier rounds.

His quest for gold, however, was halted by the seemingly unstoppable Dutch dynamo, Harrie Lavreysen.

The reigning champion proved his class, dispatching Paul in two straight races in their semi-final showdown.

Lavreysen first won by a margin of 0.056 seconds, and then sealed the deal with a 0.050-second victory, ending Paul’s dream of a world title.

This set up a final chance for redemption in the bronze medal race against Hoffman. In a brutal twist of fate, Paul was again defeated in two consecutive races.

Hoffman took the first race by a significant +0.356 seconds, and despite a fierce effort from the T&T star, the Australian sealed the bronze by an even larger margin of +0.721 in the second race.

Meanwhile, 19-time world champion Lavreysen reaffirmed his status as the king of track sprinting, claiming the gold medal and another title by defeating Great Britain’s Matthew Richardson in the final.

Lavreysen had earlier won the men’s keirin and 1K time trial individual titles.