At the 2012 Games, he reached further milestones by winning the gold medal in the 1-kilometre (0.62-mile) track pursuit event – the first-ever in the country's Paralympic history – and setting a new world-record time en route to the final.

[5] Located in the Harghita County, one of the coldest regions and the centre of winter sports in Romania, Novak initially began with speed skating, winning national titles in younger age categories and breaking a number of youth records.

Still a junior, Novak won the Romanian National Championship, before in 1996, while traveling to an international event in Italy, he suffered a car crash, which resulted in his right leg being amputated below the ankle.

[6] For years, Novak, an alumnus of the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest, worked as a lawyer and trained after hours.

[10] Novak met Jiří Ježek in the decisive heat, where although he had a slower time than in the qualification run (4:42.00), he beat his Czech opponent by more than three seconds (4:45.232)[11] thus winning the first ever Paralympic gold medal for Romania.

[15] Carol-Eduard Novak was proposed as Minister for Youth and Sport by the junior coalition partner Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) to the Cîțu Cabinet following the 2020 legislative election.