Cyclist Nicholas Paul and track and field athlete Michelle-Lee Ahye are the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) 2023 Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year winners respectively.
The announcements were made at the 29th Annual TTOC Awards ceremony at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on Friday night.
It was Paul's third TTOC Sportsman of the Year award after winning the prize in 2019 and 2021.
The 25-year-old had a memorable year on the track with the highlight being at the 2023 International Cycling Union World Track Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August where he earned a historic silver medal.
Paul, the world record holder in the individual men's sprint, had his hands full in the final as he was up against Dutch Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen, who prevailed in consecutive rides to win his fifth straight World Championship title.
It was Paul's second World Championship silver after copping second in the 1K time trial event in 2021.
Later in 2023, Paul showed his class at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile defending the sprint title he won at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. He and also bagged silver in the men's keirin.
Ahye, 31, who last won the Sportswoman of the Year award in 2021, was given the nod ahead of road cyclist Teniel Campbell.
One of the best moments of 2023 for Ahye was at the Pan American Games where she grabbed bronze in the women's 100-metre event in 11.53 seconds, her country’s only track and field medal at the games.
It was her second Pan Am medal after copping silver at the 2019 edition in Lima, Peru.
In 2023, Campbell became the first black woman to complete the Tour De France Femmes. She rode 960km over eight days during the event. Campbell was brought to tears during the feature address on Friday, recalling all the injuries she had to endure during the year.
It was no surprise that swimmer Nikoli Blackman won the junior sportsman of the year award.
Blackman, 18, splashed his way to a gold medal in the men's 50-metre freestyle event at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships 2023 in Netanya, Israel in September.
Weeks before the World Junior Championships, Blackman thrilled his home supporters at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games held in T&T.
At the National Aquatic Centre in Couva, Blackman copped three gold medals as he ended the meet as T&T's best athlete.
The junior sportswoman of the year award went to track and field athlete Sanaa Frederick.
Frederick, who recently committed to the University of Georgia alongside her twin sister Sole, won one gold medal (Under-20 200m), two silver medals (Under-20 4x100m relay, Under-20 4x400m relay) and one bronze medal (Under-20 100m) at the Carifta Games in Bahamas.
At the Commonwealth Youth Games she copped two bronze medals in the women's 100m and 4x100m mixed relay.
It did not end there for Frederick as she earned a silver medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador in the women's 4x100m relay.
The men's 3x3 basketball team of Moriba De Freitas, Chike Augustine and twin brothers Ahkeel and Ahkeem Boyd took home the sports personality of the year award. Cyclist Alexi Costa-Ramirez copped the future is female award and Paul also won the people's choice award.
Former TTOC president Brian Lewis received a special recognition for his role in TT winning the bid to host the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games.
Winning the Alexander B Chapman Award for contribution to sport and Olympism was swim coach Lorraine Boland Van Druten, who has decades of experience.
Dream on: Paul urges young T&T cyclists to keep pushing for Olympic feat as 2028 LA Games in sight
While looking ahead to possibly making another Olympic Games appearance in 2028 in Los Angeles, Trinidad and Tobago’s cycling stalwart, Nicholas Paul, is also hopeful that he will be able to share that occasion with a few more riders from the twin island republic.
Well aware of the depth of the talent that Trinidad and Tobago possesses, Paul, who relished a second-consecutive Olympic Games appearance at the just-concluded Paris showpiece, believes it is very much possible for those cyclists to also achieve their dreams of competing at the global multi-sport event.
The decorated Paul, who has numerous championship medals under his belt, and Kwesi Browne represented Trinidad and Tobago with much gusto and pride in Paris, as they gave their all on the track in both the sprint and keirin events, though both failed to make the finals.
“Team sprint, sprint, Keirin, team pursuit, I just want as many cyclists as possible to be able to make it on the Olympic stage,” Paul told the Express.
“It’s a big, big, big pool of talented young cyclists coming up. I have been trying to be a good role model for them, to let them know that they can come out here because the dream is possible. You just have to work hard. We can make a good driving force from juniors straight up to the elite,” he added.
Having contested both the Sprint and Keirin quarterfinals in Paris, Paul expressed an even deeper desire to improve his standards going forward, especially after watching Australian Matthew Richardson and Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen erase his previous world record of 9.100 in the flying 200 metres.
Lavreysen stopped the clock at 9.088 seconds, mere minutes after Richardson clocked 9.091 seconds.
“It (the quarterfinals) was not the outcome I wanted, but you live, you learn, and you come again. But I’m happy for Harrie. That was a great ride, and at the same time, it’s giving me more hunger to get back on that length to be able to break the world record and get that fast again,” Paul noted.
However, for now, the 25-year-old pointed out that the focus is on rest and recovery ahead of his next major assignment, the UCI Track World Championships scheduled for October 16-20 in Denmark.
“I think I’ll back off a bit, have a bit of a rest, and then go into Worlds. I’m really hungry, but at the same time, the build was until Paris. It was a bit stressful, so I have to ease off and then go into Worlds with as much form as possible,” Paul said.
On that note, Paul also expressed gratitude for the support from Trinidad and Tobago’s sporting enthusiasts, though some comments were not welcoming of the athletes’ overall efforts in Paris.
“I never think about the negatives because we could only work with the positives, and we have a lot of positives to work with. Moving forward, us athletes should come together and try to make Trinidad and Tobago better as a whole. Athletics, cycling, and every sport; to raise the level not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the Caribbean,” he ended.
T&T’s Nicholas Paul’s Olympic journey comes to an end in Men's Keirin at Paris 2024
Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul saw his Olympic campaign come to an end on the final day of the 2024 Paris Games after finishing fifth in Heat 2 of the men's Keirin quarterfinals Sunday. His placement fell short of the top four qualifying spots needed to advance to the semifinals, bringing his journey at this year’s Olympics to a close.
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.
T&T's Paul through to Keirin quarterfinals; compatriot Browne, Suriname's Tjon En Fa miss out
Trinidad and Tobago's standout cyclist Nicholas Paul produced a spectacular performance to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the men's Keirin competition at the Paris Olympic Games on Saturday.
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.
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