National cyclist Nicholas Paul rode to the bronze medal in the men's sprint final when the third and final leg of the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup came to an end in Milton, Canada Saturday.
Facing off with Israel's Mikhail Yakolev, Paul, the world 200m record holder powered his way to a sizzling time of 9.762 seconds in the opening ride of the best-of-three bronze medal contest with Yakolev trailing by 0.958 seconds.
The top T&T cyclist was equally as dominant in the second ride crossing the finish line in 9.889 seconds, with Yakolev trailing by 0.379 seconds.
Earlier in the semifinals, Paul was outclassed by Holland's Harrie Lavreysen in two straight rides, losing the first with the winner crossing in 9.718 and Paul, 0.113 seconds behind while in the second ride-off, the Dutchman won in 10.034, well clear of Paul who trailed by 0.551 seconds.
In the other semifinal, Paul's UCI training partner Jair Tjon En Fa of Suriname defeated Yakolev in two straight rides as well winning the first in 9.936 and o.150 seconds clear of his rival, while in the second ride, he won in 10.086, with the Israeli trailing by 0.180 seconds.
Lavreysen won the gold medal beating En Fa 2-0, courtesy times of 9.920 and 9.925 to his rival who trailed by 0.031 and 0.138 seconds, respectively.
In the quarterfinals, Paul, a double gold winner (match sprint and keirin) at last week's Pan American Track Championships in California, who won his third First Citizens "Sportsman of the Year" award earlier this year, defeated France's Rayan Helal in two straight rides.
The 25-year-old Paul won the first in 9.940 seconds, with the Frenchman just behind in 9.976 while in the second ride, Paul took the win in 9.972 with Helal, second home, +0.050 seconds after the T&T cyclist.
In the three other quarterfinals, Yakolev defeated Poland's Mateusz in two rides while En Fa and Lavreysen also won in a similar fashion over Lithuanian Lendel Vasilijus, and France's Sebastien Vigier, respectively.
When the the match sprint began with 200m flying qualifying heat, Paul was the fourth-fastest in 9.527 for an automatic spot in the last 16 along with the top three qualifiers, Lavreysenn (9.478), En Fa and Yakolev, who both clocked 9.522 while T&T's other entrant, Kwesi Browne qualified to the second round in the 23rd spot with a time of 9.926.
However, in the round-of-32 Browne was beaten in his one-off ride against Vasilijus, who was tenth in the qualifying heat in 9.688.
Paul then won his last-16 ride against Hungarian Sandor Szalontay, the 13th-fastest qualifier in 9.747 with a time of 9.973 in their one-off ride to set up a quarterfinal showdown with Helal who was 12th in the heats in 9.736.
In the men's keirin final on Saturday night, Paul was fourth in the six-man final with Lavreysen taking the gold medal in 9.894 with his countryman Jeffrey Hoogland second, and England's Jack Carlin, in the third spot for a European sweep of the top three spots while Nick Wammes of Canada was sixth.
In the seventh to 12th ride, Browne had to settle for second behind Poland's Mateusz who won in 9.956 while Jai Angsuthasawit was third home followed by Canada's Ryan Dodyk, Colombian Santiago Ramirez and Chech Republic's Martin Cechman.
When the Keirin pedalled off, Paul won heat four in 9.720 to secure a spot in the second round while Browne was third in heat three behind Israel's Mikhail Yakolev and Dodyk, and in the first round repechage, Brown won rode to victory in 10.219 to earn a semifinal spot, ahead of Poland's Rafal Sarnecki.
Paul then topped his six-man semifinal heat two in 9.880 with Lavreysen and Carlin taking the second and third spot, respectively.
Browne was fifth in semifinal one with the quartet of Wammes, Hoogland, Yakolev and Ramirez all finishing ahead of him, and Angsuthasawit in the sixth and final spot.
On Friday, T&T's Akil Campbell was the first local in action in Canada and placed 19th in the men's elimination race, one spot lower than his finish in Hong Kong last month, and 33rd overall with 336 points.
On Saturday in heat two of the omnium qualifiers, Campbell was 11th to advance.
However, he had a tough start to the omnium with a 22nd place finish in the scratch race only finishing ahead of Yacine Chalel for one point, and in the tempo race, Campbell again ended in the 22nd spot.
However, in the elimination race, Campbell rode his way to the 13th spot and 16 points before he ended with a 19th spot finish in the points race and 39 more points.