Trinidadian medal hopeful Nicholas Paul failed to advance to the men’s sprint quarter-finals in the Paris Olympics at the National Velodrome in Paris on August 7.

After losing by four-thousandths of a second to three-time Olympic medallist, Englishman Jack Carlin in the 1/8 finals, the 25-year-old had to contest the 1/8 repechage against Australian speedster Leigh Hoffman and Japanese Yuta Obara.

"Jack Carlin is an experienced racer and it was a great race," Paul told Sportsmax after the repechage.

"Tactically, I think I played it out as best as I could and it just comes down to the line," he added. 

With the winner only progressing to the August 8 quarter-final round, Paul placed third and was eliminated, with Obara – whom Paul had beaten in the1/32 round – winning the repechage and advancing.

In the opening round of sprint qualifying earlier on, Paul advanced as the seventh fastest qualifier (9.371s) in the flying 200m after Australian Matthew Richardson (9.091s) and reigning Olympic sprint champion Harrie Lavreysen (9.088s) broke Paul’s world record in this event.

In the 1/32 finals, Paul left it late against Obara and edged him on the line for the win. He then defeated another Japanese cyclist, Kaiya Ota, in the 1/16 final, which set him up against Carlin in the 1/8 final.

Paul and fellow TT rider Kwesi Browne return to the National Velodrome track on Saturday for the opening round of men’s keirin qualification.