[2] He was inspired to run track and field after watching Donovan Bailey win the 100 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

A few years later, as a junior, he tied Ben Johnson's Canadian national record in the 50 metre sprint, running a time of 5.83.

His culminating moment as a sprinter came in 2003 when he ran a time of 10.03 and beat the then world record holder, American Tim Montgomery in Mexico City.

As of 2019, his time of 10.03 is still ranked the sixth fastest Canadian 100m time, behind Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey who both share the national record with a 9.84 clocking, along with Andre De Grasse (9.90), Aaron Brown (9.96) and Gavin Smellie (10.01).

In 2024, Nicolas was hired as the sprints coach for the Concordia University Stingers Track & Field Team.