Murray confirmed this week that the tennis tournament at Roland Garros, which begins on Saturday, will be his last before he hangs up his racket.
The three-time grand slam champion has endured an injury-hit few years and was unable to make a final appearance in the singles draw at Wimbledon this month, though he did team up with brother Jamie for one last match on Centre Court – a loss to John Peers and Rinky Hijikata.
Murray is the only men's player to have won two Olympic golds ahead of his Paris campaign, but Cavendish – who made history by claiming a 35th Tour de France stage win earlier this month – says his legacy goes beyond his results.
"What Andy has showed, whatever you do, just do it. It's not for anyone else to say what you can and can't do – just do what you love," Cavendish said.
"Aside from his incredible achievements on the court, what Andy has stood for off the court, is his fight for equality between male and female sportspeople especially, and his vocal criticism of people who criticise him and what he does.
"Absolute love of a sport and carrying the hopes of a nation for so long – he's an incredible person.
"Whatever he does, you know he's going to do it with passion and I wish him the best."
Olympic omnium gold medallist Walls, competing for England at the Birmingham 2022 event, was taken to hospital after the shocking incident at the Lee Valley VeloPark centre in London.
He clipped another rider while attempting to avoid a clattering of rivals following an initial crash at a corner and was sent out of control at high speed.
The venue staged track cycling at the London 2012 Olympics, and it had not previously seen such a worrying crash as the one that saw Walls career off course.
The hospital attention was said by team officials to be "precautionary", with Walls "alert and talking" after the crash, which occurred in 15km scratch race qualifying.
Two fellow competitors, Canadian Derek Gee and Isle of Man racer Matt Bostock, were also taken to hospital, while two spectators received treatment.
Birmingham 2022 added on Twitter: "Sending our best wishes to the cyclists and spectators who were injured at the Lee Valley VeloPark this morning and a huge thank you to our medical team for their swift action in helping those involved."
As well as his track commitments, Walls competes in road cycling for the Bora-Hansgrohe team.
Evenepoel won the gold medal in the men's time trial last week, and the Belgian made history on Saturday.
The 24-year-old roared to success in Paris after dropping France's Valentin Madouas with around 15km left.
And he even had to survive a late scare as he sustained a puncture as he passed through the iconic Louvre.
A swift change of bikes, though, and Evenepoel recovered to cruise to victory, passing under the Eiffel Tower and celebrating on the line by placing his bike in front of him and holding out his arms.
It was a picture-perfect finish to a stunning race, as he became the first man to win both road events at the same Games.
"What a place to win this," he said.
"Honestly, I feel sick, from the effort, it was a pretty hard day out there. I'm so proud to win this and be the first ever to win the double. It's history, no?
"I started the year with that celebration, so I knew that the Eiffel Tower was in the background, so I wanted to do it. I think it's going to be a great picture."
IOC president Bach spoke on Tuesday at a press conference after interim recommendations were issued to international federations and organisers of events regarding the involvement of Russians and Belarusians in events while war in Ukraine continues.
The Olympic body urged federations to exclude any athletes or support personnel "who actively support the war", along with anybody "contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies", and said teams from either country should not be allowed to compete in international sport for now.
However, in a statement, the IOC said: "Sports organisations must have the sole responsibility to decide which athletes can take part in international competitions based on their sporting merits and not on political grounds or because of their passports."
There is a clear possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to compete as neutrals at the Paris Olympics next year, although Bach stressed there has been no decision taken on that matter, explaining it has yet to be discussed by the IOC executive board.
Bach said the IOC was going along with a United Nations position, and when asked whether Olympic chiefs were simply waiting for the war to end, and holding fire on direct action until then, he refuted the contention.
"We are not kicking it down the road, and we are not waiting," Bach said. "I guess we all would like the war to end now, and this is what we are calling for, but as you can see for all the reasons we are giving the conditions are not related to the development of the war, they are related to the respect of the Olympic charter and the Olympic values, and there we have to address these questions whether somebody is actively supporting the war in whichever way."
Bach said a decision regarding next year's Olympics would be made "at the appropriate time", without indicating when that might be, saying it was important to monitor the latest recommendations "for as long as possible" before taking "an informed decision".
He said there was no timeline because "nobody knows what's happening tomorrow or in one week or in nine months, so we have just to monitor and then find the appropriate time".
Bach knows there is unease in some quarters about the IOC not taking a firm decision.
When asked about Russia being happy its athletes were being able to compete, and Ukraine being unhappy with the situation, Bach said: "We have been accused by the Russian side of being agents of the United States, and we have been accused by Ukrainian side of being promoters of the war, so we appear to be somewhere in the middle."
T&T’s Olympic 4X400m metre relay team of Machel Cedenio, Jereem Richards, Dwight St. Hillaire and the late Deon Lendore, who won the Lytsra Lewis Award, were also recognized at the ceremony hosted by 2013 400m hurdles World Champion Jehue Gordon and aired on CNC3 Television in the twin-island republic.
Swimmer Nikoli Blackman was crowned the Youth Sportsman of the Year 2021 for the consecutive year while tennis player Jordane Dookie was selected as the Youth Sportswoman of the Year 2021 title. Meanwhile, the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award went to The Tennis Association of Trinidad & Tobago for outstanding administrative work.
Overall, 46 of T&T’s top athletes were honoured during the ceremony for their outstanding achievements over the past year. The country’s Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe praised the awardees for what he described as their “unrelenting spirit, sense of pride and purpose, and the larger than life persona they exude every time they set out to represent the red, white and black.
“You are our true heroes, who serve as a symbol of hope, perseverance, courage and strength, not only to our youth but to our nation,” she said.
Chairman of the First Citizens Sports Foundation, Dr Terry Ali, echoed similar sentiments while adding that the Sports Foundation would continue with its collaborative work with key stakeholders to support the successful restart of sporting events in Trinidad and Tobago.
Karen Darbasie, Group Chief Executive Officer at First Citizens, expressed gratitude at being able to honour the country’s best athletes. “The First Citizens Sports Awards is yet another proud moment, not only for those being honoured but also for us, who have been privileged to uphold that responsibility of bestowing honour,” she said.
Among the youth finalists who received awards were Alan-Safar Ramoutar – Chess; Ryan D’Abreau – Cycling; Shakeem Mc Kay – Track & Field; Zara La Fleur – Chess; Janae De Gannes – Track & Field; and Natassia Baptiste – Volleyball.
Among the senior finalists were Nigel Paul – Boxing; Dylan Carter – Swimming; Andrew Lewis – Sailing; Teniel Campbell – Cycling; Kennya Cordner – Football; Felice Aisha Chow – Rowing, and Samantha Wallace – Netball.
Walls and his bike left the track and crashed into spectators at the Lee Valley VeloPark centre in London.
The 24-year-old Walls, who won an omnium gold at Tokyo 2020, needed stitches in his forehead but avoided major injury, British Cycling announced.
Competing for England at the Birmingham 2022 event, Walls was taken to hospital after the shocking incident on Sunday, which occurred in 15km scratch race qualifying.
He clipped another rider while attempting to avoid a clattering of rivals following an initial crash at a corner and was sent out of control at high speed.
Two fellow competitors, Canadian Derek Gee and Isle of Man racer Matt Bostock, were also taken to hospital, while two spectators received treatment.
Walls wrote on Twitter late on Sunday: "Thank you everyone for the messages and support! I've somehow come away with no serious injures just a few stitches and pretty banged up.
"I really hope everyone else involved is ok including the spectators that may have been injured."
Gee saw the funny side as he commented on a video of Walls dramatically crashing out, writing on Twitter: "Almost made the wall ride…"
However, Bostock was left shaken up, writing: "Big thanks to everyone who has messaged and checked in. Just want to let everyone know I’m okay. Quite battered but hoping to be back in time for the RR [road race] next week.
"Really scary crash, especially happy to see Matt Walls somehow came away relatively okay."
As well as his Games commitments, Walls competes in professional road cycling for the Bora-Hansgrohe team.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Bach launched a tirade on Thursday at the "negative reactions" to plans to allow competitors from Russia and Belarus to compete in global sporting events as neutral individual athletes.
There has been no final decision taken yet on whether those athletes can take part in next year's Olympics; however, there will be potential pathways for them to qualify for the Games, and it could yet mean there are Russians and Belarusians taking part in the Paris Games while war continues in Ukraine.
Government figures in the UK, Germany and beyond have expressed opposition to such athletes being allowed to take part, although IOC guidance on Tuesday potentially opened that door.
For those politicians there was a fierce rebuke from Bach.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Bach said: "Today the IOC executive board discussed the reactions to our recommendations issued on Tuesday.
"There we have taken note of some negative reactions by some European governments in particular. I can only reaffirm there what the Olympic movement and all the stakeholders have made very clear before: that it is deplorable to see some governments do not want to respect the majority within the Olympic movement and of all stakeholders, nor the autonomy of sport which they are praising and requesting from other countries in countless speeches, UN resolutions, EU declarations, and at every other opportunity.
"It is deplorable that these governments do not address the question of double standards with which we have been confronted in our consultations.
"We have not seen a single comment from them about their attitude towards the participation of athletes whose countries are involved in the other 70 wars and armed conflicts in the world.
"It is even more deplorable that they grossly neglect the very clear statement of the two special rapporteurs from the UN human rights council. While in other issues they are always highlighting their firm request for the respect of human rights
"Discussions and reactions from the Olympic movement are making it very clear, that these government interventions have strengthened the unity of the Olympic movement.
"All stakeholders make it very clear again: it cannot be up to the governments to decide which athletes can participate in which competition. This would be the end of world sport as we know it today.
"The Olympic movement stakeholders are very concerned about this politicisation of sport. They are very concerned about the attitude of these governments wanting to take over the participation and the decision of participation in sport events in their country or even in other countries."
Bach pointed to a letter from the presidents of the five regional groupings on national Olympic committees, representing all 206 NOCs, in which he said it was stated that "international sports competitions welcome athletes from all countries".
Asked why it was only athletes from Russia and Belarus that were being asked to compete as neutrals, rather than those from other conflicts and wars to which he referred, Bach said that was "because this was a blatant violation of the Olympic truce and happened between the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Games".
That was a reference to the timing of the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
With regard to Germany and the UK, Bach said: "Both NOCs have made it very clear they do not boycott, and we will not punish athletes or an NOC for the position of their governments.
"We will always make every effort not to punish athletes for misbehaviour of their national governments."
Bach, who is German, said "a vast, vast majority of all stakeholders of the Olympic movement" supported the IOC putting in place conditions for the possible return to international competition of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports.
He added: "I can only reaffirm the entire Olympic movement strongly stands by its values and by its mission to unite the world in a peaceful competition."
The Welsh rider overcame the competition and heavy rain to cross the line first at the end of the 126km route from the city centre to a section of the Great Wall of China.
It was the first Olympic gold medal won by a British female cyclist, the country’s 200th Olympic gold across all sports and the first by a Welsh athlete since 1972.
Cooke, 25, had stated her intentions when she formed a breakaway with four other riders 6km from the finish.
She went on to beat Sweden’s Emma Johansson and Tatiana Guderza of Italy in a sprint for the finish. Her winning time was three hours 32 minutes 24 seconds.
“It’s just like a dream come true, and I hope everyone one can share in this dream,” said Cooke, who took up competitive cycling at the age of 11 and had finished fifth in Athens in 2004.
Cooke went on to win World Championship gold later in 2008, becoming the first racer to achieve the world and Olympic double in the same year.
She also won the Tour de France twice in her career and retired in 2013.
Archibald, an Olympic, world and European champion in various disciplines, took gold in the women’s individual pursuit in Brisbane, having broken the Games record in a blistering qualifying session.
Her only previous Commonwealth medal was the bronze she won on home soil in the points race in Glasgow four years earlier.
Archibald, then aged 24, said before racing began gold was the only colour she wanted and swiftly delivered, covering the 3,000m distance in three minutes 26.088 seconds to beat Australian Rebecca Wiasak.
She had set the record at 3:24.119 in a qualifying session which saw three riders go under the previous record set by England’s Joanna Rowsell Shand in Glasgow.
“It means a lot, especially in the individual pursuit because it’s not an Olympic event,” said Archibald. “2014 always stands out as a big year for Joanna Rowsell to kind of echo, because she had the title and the Games record.
“You look at the success she carried from that point in her career. I’d be very proud.”
Fired up by his sister’s performance, Archibald’s brother John then added another medal to Scotland’s tally with silver in the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit as England’s Charlie Tanfield clinched gold.
“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her,” said John Archibald.
“The Commonwealth Games record went and they all went better than her personal best so she had her back against the wall but she pulled out and delivered on the day and that got me going.”
In the event, which was broadcast over video-conferencing platform Zoom, Paul and Ahye were named TTOC’s senior Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively for 2021.
TTOC President Brian Lewis addressed the virtual audience before the distribution of awards.
“In 2021, our athletes showed that they faced their fears. They went to Tokyo and gave their best. They did not make excuses and of course, they showed emotional, physical, and mental stamina by facing their disappointments, their failures, their mistakes, and the criticism of those who weren’t in the arena; who didn’t have to overcome economic issues, lack of training issues, doubt issues, death in their families and close circles,” said Lewis.
“As we look forward to 2022, we are encouraged by the example and the discipline and resolve shown by team TTO at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Junior Pan Am Games,” he added.
It was Ahye’s fourth time holding the title after winning from 2016-2018 while Paul received the award for the second time, his first coming back in 2019.
Paul, the current world-record holder in the Men’s flying 200m, earned the top male award based on his silver medal performance in the Men’s one-kilometre time-trial at the UCI Tissot World Track Cycling Championship in Roubaix, France, back in October.
He was also sixth in the Men’s Sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ahye was deemed the top female based on her ninth-place finish in the Women’s 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she narrowly missed out on the final.
Swimmer Nikoli Blackman, a member of T&T’s teams at both the Pan Am Junior Games and Swimming World Championships (SC) this year, was named Junior Sportsman of the Year for the second consecutive year, and track and field athlete Rae-Anne Serville, now representing USC, was Junior Sportswoman of the Year.
Olympic long jump finalist and 2021 NCAA Heptathlon Champion at Texas A&M, Tyra Gittens, was named the Sports Personality of the Year and reacted to it on her Instagram page on Wednesday.
“Blessed to receive the Sports Personality award during the TTOC 27th Annual Award Ceremony this evening. I can’t wait to represent TTO again next year,” she said.
West Indies senior women’s vice-captain Anissa Mohammed won the Future is Female award.
The 20-year-old Welshwoman shocked herself when she took the women’s individual sprint title in Glasgow in August, beating Germany’s favoured Lea Friedrich in the final.
Finucane donned the rainbow jersey for the first time in competition at the UCI Track Champions League opening round in Mallorca this weekend, but while the distinctive striped jersey means she can no longer keep herself inconspicuous, she does not want it to change her approach.
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“People will look at me now,” Finucane told the PA news agency. “Last year I was kind of the underdog and I just came through so now I am wearing the stripes. I hope that doesn’t really change anything.
“I’m just trying to ignore it and just race my bike, but there is some external pressure. I’m not just Emma at the back of the field anymore.”
The rainbow jersey can do different things for different riders. While many take it as a confidence boost, for others the stripes have worn heavily. Finucane said she had spoken to several Great Britain team-mates about how to deal with it.
“I don’t want to look at it (as giving me a psychological edge) because if I lose, then what?” she said. “And I will get beaten, and that’s fine. I just need to take it as it comes.
“Half of it is the mental battle of putting it on and people looking at you and having that pressure, but I’m trying to embrace it and enjoy it because you don’t know if it will happen again.
“Beth Shriever is a really good friend of mine and she’s been the BMX world and Olympic champion. She said she didn’t have the best year in the rainbow jersey because she put too much pressure on herself and she overthought it.
“I’ve spoken to Evie (Richards, 2021 mountain bike world champion) and Katie Archibald (a five-time world champion on the track) and I’m lucky we have so many inspiring women in the Great Britain team. It’s great I can learn from them but ultimately I will only learn from myself and how I deal with it.”
And Finucane believes the Champions League – the made-for-TV track cycling series which is in its third season – is the ideal place to do much of that learning, providing some top-level competition without the stresses and pressures that come elsewhere.
“The next event I’ll do in the rainbows is the Euros (in January) which is when everything is serious,” she said. “I’m not saying this isn’t serious, but it’s a nice place to be free to fail. You can try new things.”
Saturday’s racing in Palma saw Finucane finish second in the sprint, beaten by Germany’s Alessa-Catriona Propster, before failing to make the keirin final through some tired legs. But it was just the sort of experience she was looking for when it came to dealing with her new status.
Finucane will wear the stripes into an Olympic year but despite her status is taking nothing, not even squad selection, for granted.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” she said. “I’d love to go and I’m really pushing myself but I need to take each race as it comes. If I just think about Paris and everything else goes wrong I’ll not be going.
“But it’s in the back of my mind because since I was 10 years old I’ve wanted to ride the Olympics.
“As the GB sprint team we’ll not just be going there to ride but we’re looking for medals and I fully believe we have the potential to win. It’s super exciting but also super scary.”
He slipped down to ninth after the puncture on his fourth lap, trailing the leader by 40 seconds, but made up the ground to beat home favourite Victor Koretzky over the line by nine seconds.
In a tense final lap, the pair exchanged the lead, but in a superb overtake through the trees, Pidcock edged back in front and held his nerve to win his second goal medal.
Pidcock, who had to withdraw from the Tour de France after suffering from Covid-19 earlier this month, said he was determined to do whatever it took to get his hands back on the gold medal.
"It wasn't easy," he told BBC Sport after the race. "I'm keeping my glasses on for a reason.
"The Olympics is so special, you never give up, you give everything, and that is what I had to do.
"I knew that Victor was going to be fast in the last lap even if I couldn't get rid of him. I knew it was going to be a big fight, and he left a gap and I had to take it.
"That's racing. I know people might view it differently, but sport is about not giving up. It is a shame that the French were booing me, but you know."
Pidcock had made a quick start, pushing to the front of the pack before being slowed down by the wheel change, but he was quick to brush off the problem.
"I knew that the first thing was to stay calm, I didn't really let it affect me," he added. "All I could do was stay calm and come back as best I could. I wanted to come back to the front, that's all I cared about.
"There's no point in stressing about [the slow wheel change], that's not going to help me get back to the front. I was lucky it happened early on, so there was time to come back to the front."
Pidcock will have another chance to go for gold in the road race on Saturday.
The three-time Tour de France champion had been scheduled to take part in the men's road race at the Games on August 3, but it was announced on Monday he would not take part.
While Slovenia's Olympic cycling coach Uros Murn attributed Pogacar's absence to "extreme fatigue" after claiming his latest Tour title last week, the UAE Team Emirates superstar was back in action the following day at a criterium race in Surhuisterveen.
Questioned about his Paris decision by Dutch broadcaster NOS, Pogacar revealed his frustration at Zigart missing out on a place in the Slovenian squad.
"It's not the main reason, but it certainly didn't help," he said. "I think she deserves her place. She's a two-time national champion in the road race and time trial."
Urska Pintar and Eugenia Bujak were preferred to Zigart for the women's road race. Zigart won the national title in that event ahead of Pintar last month.
Under the programme, cyclist Nicholas Paul and sprinter Jereem Richards will be the primary beneficiaries as both men are responsible for the three gold medals the country won in Birmingham.
Paul won gold in the keirin, silver in the match sprint and bronze in the 1000m time trials and is set to receive TT$437,500 while Richards, who won the 200m title in a Games record 19.80 and anchored the country’s 4x400m relay to the gold medal is set to receive TT$375,000.
According to the Trinidad Guardian, athletes competing in relay team events will earn $125,000 each for a gold medal, $62,500 for silver and for bronze, $31,250. Individual gold medals get a whopping TT$250,000.
That means Dwight St Hillaire, Asa Guevara and Machel Cedenio will each get $125,000 and the members of the 4x100 metres team - Jerod Elcock, Eric Harrison Jnr, Kion Benjamin and Kyle Greaux - will each get $62,500 for their silver medal run.
Paul, who started his season with a series of unstoppable performances at the UCI Nation’s Cup in Milton Canada, as well as the ‘Speed Paradise’ and the Carnival of Speed events at the National Cycling Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva, all in April, followed that up with victory in the Men’s Elite Sprint at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Class One event in Germany recently.
The Trinidad and Tobago stalwart again placed his class on display at the PanAm Elite Track Cycling Championships in Argentina where he won the Sprints and Keirin, while clocking a new track record 9.349 seconds in the flying 200m.
Paul also joined forces with compatriots to place second in the Team Sprint and he rightly expressed delight at the accomplishments.
"Firstly, I would like to give God thanks because without him none of this would be possible. The Pan American Cycling champions in Argentina was a great experience, my races were well executed, and I am very happy with my performance," Paul told SportsMax.tv.
"It was also great to have my countrymen there with me and a great feeling to have won a team medal as well. Everyone on the team played their part, we performed accordingly and came out with a good result," he added.
While those performances represent a massive boost to his CAC Games charge and positions him to achieve other targets this year, the 24-year-old is by no means grandstanding against rivals in El Salvador.
"I am definitely pleased with another solid performance going into the CAC Games. It's all about trying to be consistent while working towards my ultimate goal which is Olympic Games qualification.
"But every event is different, and I am confident but not overconfident, so my plan presently is to just do my best for my country while taking things one competition at a time," he shared.
Though the mindset is always to improve on previous performances and that requires a holistic approach and a strategic vision of what he wants to achieve.
"Presently I don’t have any planned changes to my programme for CAC Games, however, I’m always focused on getting better at my craft every day, therefore changes can be made accordingly, but we will see how that goes as time goes by," Paul said.
Paul, unquestionably the best rider in the Caribbean, finished behind Australia’s Matthew Richardson, who was 0.628 ahead of the gifted Trinidadian over the two races. Scotland’s Jack Carlin secured the bronze medal.
Paul won Trinidad and Tobago’s first medal at the championships with a dominating performance in the keirin on Saturday.
He won by 0.406s ahead of Carlin.
Malaysian Shah Sarhom was third 0.424 behind the winner.
Paul’s teammate Kwesi Browne finished sixth.
It was the third medal and a full set for the 23-year-old Paul, who won gold in the keirin on Saturday and silver in the individual pursuit on Sunday.
On Monday, he clocked 1:00.089, just behind the Australia pair of Thomas Cornish (1:00.036), who claimed the silver medal and gold medal winner Matthew Glaetzer (59.505).
Paul has now won all of Trinidad and Tobago’s medals at the Commonwealth Games.
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.
Paul, won heat five in tidy fashion to continue his hunt for an Olympic medal in the competition, which will conclude on Sunday, August 11.
Another Trinidad and Tobago representative, Kwesi Browne, finished third in heat four and failed to progress. He was given a second chance through the repechage round, but that race also ended in disappointment as he fell during the final lap and did not finish.
Meanwhile, Suriname's Jair Tjon En Fa also failed to make the most of his second chance in the repechage round, as he finished fourth in repechage heat three and failed to progress to the quarterfinals. He initially placed fourth in heat one of the preliminary round.
The 25-year-old cyclist entered the Paris Olympics with high ambitions, fueled by an impressive track record that included a sixth-place finish in the sprint at Tokyo 2020 during his Olympic debut. Over the years, Paul has established himself as one of the world’s fastest cyclists, earning multiple accolades on the global stage.
Paul’s accomplishments are highlighted by his two silver medals at the World Championships—one in the sprint event in 2023 and another in the 1km time trial in 2021. Additionally, he made history for Trinidad and Tobago by winning gold in the Keirin at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, marking the nation's first cycling medal since 1966. His performance at those games also earned him a silver medal in the sprint and a bronze in the 1km time trial.
Beyond his medal haul, Paul holds the world record for the flying 200m sprint, a testament to his incredible speed and skill on the track. Although his Olympic journey in Paris ended earlier than hoped, Paul’s achievements and contributions to the sport remain significant, and he continues to be a source of pride for Trinidad and Tobago.
Paul will undoubtedly look to build on the lessons learned and continue striving for excellence in future competitions.
