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• Julien Alfred caps remarkable year with two awards at inaugural CANOC Sports ceremony

  Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia’s sprinting sensation, was the star of the night at the inaugural CANOC Sports Awards on Saturday, walking away with two major accolades in recognition of her stellar 2024 season. Held in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands, the awards ceremony celebrated the best of Caribbean sport, and Alfred, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, World Indoor 60m champion, and 2024 Wanda Diamond League 100m champion, was the undisputed highlight.

  Alfred, currently the top-ranked female athlete from the Caribbean, was named the Caribbean Female Sports Personality of the Year, edging out some of the region’s finest talents, including Marileidy Paulino, the Olympic 400m champion from the Dominican Republic, and former 100m hurdles Olympic gold medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. With three major titles to her name in 2024, Alfred’s dominance on the track made her the clear favorite for the award.

  But that wasn’t the only accolade the 23-year-old star took home. Earlier in the evening, Alfred shared the Breakthrough Award with Dominica’s Thea LaFond, a triple jumper who also had an outstanding year, winning both World Indoors and Olympic gold. This award honors athletes who earned their first medals in major international competitions, and Alfred’s rise to the top of world athletics this year cemented her status as one of the Caribbean's brightest stars.

  The CANOC Sports Awards were created to honour the region’s finest athletes, teams, and sports leaders, celebrating their achievements on the international stage. The event also shined a light on sustainability in sports through the IOC Sustainability Awards, adding a broader dimension to the night’s proceedings.

  The Caribbean Male Sports Personality of the Year title went to Mijain Lopez Nunez, the five-time Olympic wrestling champion from Cuba, who triumphed over Grenadian decathlete Lindon Victor and Jamaican discus thrower Roje Stona.

  Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic made a strong showing in the team categories, with their national women’s volleyball team and men’s football team winning Caribbean Team of the Year honors. The Dominican Republic Olympic Committee was also named National Olympic Committee of the Year, rounding off a successful night for the country.

  Other notable winners included Anmar Goodridge-Boyce of Barbados, who was awarded the Caribbean Sports Media Award for his contributions to regional sports coverage, and the late Judy Simons of Bermuda, who was posthumously honored with the Caribbean Distinguished Service Award for her dedication to advancing sports administration in the region.

  For Julien Alfred, the night was a fitting tribute to a breakout year on the global stage, solidifying her place as one of the Caribbean’s greatest athletes. As she continues her journey, both on the track and as a role model for aspiring athletes across the region, her achievements at the CANOC Sports Awards underscore her extraordinary talent and the bright future ahead.

   

   

   

• “I am very optimistic”- BAAA President Archer sees bright future for Bahamian athletics

  President of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), Drumeco Archer, sees a bright future ahead for Bahamas’ track and field program with stalwarts Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner on the backend of their respective remarkable careers.

  The Bahamas finished the 2024 Paris Olympics with no medals. The last time that happened was at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

  Their best hope for a medal, Gardiner, who was the defending Olympic Champion, pulled up injured in his semi-final of the Men’s 400m while Miller-Uibo, Olympic Champion in 2016 and 2021, failed to advance from the heats in the Women’s equivalent.

  World Indoor Champion and record holder in the 60m hurdles, Devynne Charlton, finished sixth in the final of the 100m hurdles, the same place she finished three years earlier in Tokyo.

  Despite these lean results, Archer, speaking on the latest episode of Out D’ Blocks on the SportsMax TV YouTube Channel, says he is optimistic about the future of the country’s track and field program.

  “I am very optimistic about where we are in our program. Yes, I think that when you give a woman a rose, you just can’t stop and that is really the expectation of the world and, no doubt, our local community,” Archer said.

  “With an illustrious 10-year span for both Shaunae (Miller-Uibo) and Steven Gardiner, obviously there’s an expectation but I think what we’ve done over the years is have the vision of trying to continue to produce new growth to the program and so I think we have a legion of new rising stars that will replace the likes of Shaunae and Steven,” Archer added.

  In addition to her two Olympic titles, Miller-Uibo, 30, also won the World title in 2022 and took silver at both the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.

  Gardiner, 29, also won gold at the World Championships in 2019.

  Archer noted that he believes that these two stalwarts of Bahamian sprinting still have some more great performances in their future.

   “Let me just say that this is really not the end for them. There’s a lot more in the gas tank. Let me preface by saying I don’t speak for them but I’m optimistic that you just don’t end your career like that so I’m expecting them to return to the big stage and deliver as the world expects them to,” he said.

   

   

• Alfred says 100m semi-final performance gave her confidence to produce best in the final- “I knew I had it in the bag”

  At any major championship, a strong performance in the semi-finals usually makes an athlete’s confidence skyrocket heading into the round where the medals will be decided.

  According to reigning Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred, this was exactly the case for her in Paris in August.

  After getting through her heat comfortably in 10.95, Alfred, 23, was drawn in a brutal second semi-final that also included 2023 World Champion Sha’Carri Richardson and was supposed to have 10-time World and three-time Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

  Fraser-Pryce failed to turn up for the race meaning Alfred still had Richardson to contend with.

  “When I saw the line-up, I was like man, I have to run! I really have to run tomorrow. I kept thinking about how I’m going to execute,” she said on a recent episode of Out D' Blocks on the SportsMax TV YouTube Channel.

  “I had to psych myself up mentally,” she added.

  The execution couldn’t have gone more perfectly for the St. Lucian as she blasted out of the blocks, getting a big lead on Richardson before shutting down towards the line to win in 10.84.

  She then repeated in the final, speeding to a personal best and national record 10.72 to win her country’s first ever Olympic medal.

  Alfred says her semi-final performance gave her the confidence she needed to produce her best in the final.

  “After that semi-final, I gained so much confidence,” she said.

  Crossing that line and executing such a good race and even slowing down in the last five metres of the race, I knew I had it in the bag as long as I go out there and do it in the final,” Alfred added.

  The World Indoor 60m champion said the performance in the semi-final helped her to be calmer in the final.

  “I was as relaxed as possible. The way that semi-final turned out was the best thing that happened to me because I gained all the confidence,” she said.

  “Just going back to the warm-up area, my coach kept telling me we’re not done yet, we have one more round,” she added.