Trinidad and Tobago's head coach for the 2025 Carifta Athletics Games, Wendell Williams, has heaped praises on the country's 78-member team for their showing at the April 19-21 games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, and is expecting bigger things for Carifta 2026.
TT copped 25 medals at the games, including nine gold, six silver and ten bronze medals. TT's medal count dipped under the 27 medals they bagged at Carifta 2024 in Grenada, but the contingent more than doubled their gold-medal haul as four gold medals were won at last year's edition. TT finished third in the final medal standings behind the dominant Jamaica team (78 medals) and Bahamas (37 medals).
"Because of the setbacks we had with the (lack of access) to stadia and stuff, the coaches stepped up and answered the call of preparing the athletes to come out and represent team 868 at the 2025 Carifta Games," Williams told Newsday on April 23.
A revamped Hasely Crawford Stadium track was re-opened on April 15, mere days before the start of Carifta, after several months of replacement and recertification work, which initially saw the arena closed to all public events on September 20, 2024.
A number of coaches and athletes, speaking to Newsday on condition of anonymity, had expressed frustration that they were unable to maximise home advantage by being able to train and get familiar with the track well ahead of the games.
[caption id="attachment_1151495" align="alignnone" width="928"] TT's Oshea Cummings, left, competes in the girls' Under-17 1500m during the Carifta Games, on April 19, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. - Photo by Daniel Prentice[/caption]
"For me, personally, I think the (performances) were excellent. Even though we didn't get the number of medals we would have predicted, we got five more gold medals than last year and we just dropped under the 27 medals (from 2024) by two.
"We could have well surpassed that count this year. I think we could have had at least ten gold and maybe about 30 medals in total. We just have to refocus, go back to the drawing board and do what we have to do."
On the opening night of action, TT bagged three gold medals in a frenetic last session, with Oshea Cummings and Christopher Sammy winning their respective boys' and girls' under-17 1,500-metre events. Keneisha Shelbourne added gold for TT in the women's under-20 triple jump as the hosts ended day one on a high.
Sammy, who went viral after his post-race interview on day one, was golden again on the second day of the championships as he led a one-two finish for TT in the boys' under-17 3,000m, with Armani Dillon grabbing silver.
The versatility of TT's athletes was on full display, with twins Tenique and Tyrique Vincent grabbing gold in their respective girls' open heptathlon and boys' under-20 decathlon events. Omari Brown also delivered a commanding performance to land gold in the boys' under-17 octathlon. Meanwhile, Gianna Paul shrugged off the disappointment from Carifta 2024 to beat teammate Janae DeGannes to the gi
