The Caribbean region tends to produce some of the top performances around the world when it comes to sports, particularly track and field, and 2024 was no exception. A number of athletes displayed their immense potential at an extremely high level on some of the biggest stages that one could imagine.

Today, we’ll look at some of the best the region had to offer in 2024.

Julien Alfred’s emergence

In just her second year as a professional, St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred made it known to the world that she is a force to be reckoned with on the track.

The 23-year-old’s achievements in 2024 included a pair of firsts for her country in its 45 years of independence.

At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in March, Alfred won 60m gold, St. Lucia’s first ever World Indoor Championship medal.

The former St. Catherine High standout wasn’t done there, as she followed it up with 100m gold at the Paris Olympics in August, where she produced a national record 10.72 to win her nation’s first Olympic medal. She also won silver in the 200m in 22.08.

She closed out her season with the 100m title at the Diamond League Final in Brussels in September.

The Ciceron native will, no doubt, be looking to repeat her Olympic exploits at the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025.

Marileidy Paulino’s unrivaled dominance

The 2024 campaign saw the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino continue a reign of dominance in the women’s 400m event that we may never see again.

Paulino, 28, won her last 16 400m races since July 16, 2023, including titles at both the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as she too is her country’s first ever Olympic gold medallist.

Paulino’s winning time of 48.17 in the Paris final put her fourth on the all-time list, only behind Marita Koch (47.60), Jarmila Kratochvilova (47.99), and Salwa Eid Naser (48.14).

She closed out her season with victory at the Athlos NYC meet in New York in September, two weeks after claiming another Diamond League title in Brussels.

The only question left to ask about Paulino is whether or not she will pose a threat to Koch’s world record in 2025.

Devynne Charlton breaks 60m hurdles world record

The 2024 season will always be remembered as the year Bahamian Devynne Charlton became the fastest woman of all time in the 60m hurdles.

Charlton first broke Susanna Kallur’s 16-year-old world record of 7.68 with her 7.67-clocking at the Millrose Games in February. She later shattered her own mark at the World Indoor Championships a month later as she clocked a blistering 7.65 to win gold.

Thea LaFond leaps into history

Prior to 2024, Dominica’s Thea LaFond yearned to join the highly coveted 15-metre club in the women’s triple jump. 

However, with the year now at its end, the 30-year-old can celebrate the accomplishment of crossing that milestone twice, with both jumps coming in the biggest moments of her career to date.

The first came at the World Indoor Championships in March, where she produced a then-personal best and national record of 15.01m to become her country’s first ever World Indoor champion.

The second occasion was at the Paris Olympics in August, where LaFond went one centimeter further as she jumped 15.02m to be crowned Dominica’s first ever Olympic champion.

Roje Stona and Rajindra Campbell make history

Giants Roje Stona and Rajindra Campbell made history at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first Jamaican men to medal in the shot put and discus events.

Campbell, Jamaica’s national record holder in the shot put, registered a heave of 22.15m for bronze, and four days later, Stona shocked the world with a massive 70.00m effort that saw him achieve the feat of being Jamaica's first ever gold medallist in an Olympic throws event.

Kishane Thompson arrives

Kishane Thompson burst onto the track and field scene in a massive way in 2024.

The 23-year-old's first completed race of the season sent shockwaves through the sport’s landscape when he ran 9.82 to win his semi-final at the Jamaican National Championships in June. He followed that up with a personal best of 9.77 to win his maiden national title.

Thompson was favoured to cop the Olympic gold but was just edged out by American Noah Lyles at the finish. Still, his silver medal performance, a 9.80-clocking at his first Olympics, was much to celebrate and represents a solid platform on which he should build in the year ahead, provided he maintains a clean bill of health.

Wayne Pinnock adds Olympic silver

Similar to last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock claimed silver at the Paris Olympics behind Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglu.

Pinnock produced 8.36m in the second round of the competition, which was just a shade behind Tentoglu’s winning jump of 8.48m.

Anderson Peters and Lindon Victor secure podium places

Podium places at major championships are nothing new for Grenada’s Anderson Peters and Lindon Victor, and the Paris Olympic Games was no different.

Peters, a two-time World champion, secured his first Olympic medal with an 88.54m effort for bronze, while Victor also secured bronze in the decathlon, the same medal he won at the 2023 World Championships, with 8711 points.

Shanieka Ricketts gets her Olympic medal

After narrowly missing out on a medal in Tokyo in 2021, Shanieka Ricketts finally got her Olympic medal, a silver behind Dominica’s Thea LaFond in Paris.

The two-time World Championship silver medallist produced her best jump of the season in the final when she cut the sand at 14.87m.

Nickisha Pryce makes 400m history for Jamaica

To say that 2024 was a remarkable year for Nickisha Pryce would be an understatement. Not only did she enjoy a stellar NCAA campaign, but she also became the first Jamaican woman to ever dip below 49 seconds in the 400m.

In her Diamond League debut on July 20 in London, Pryce set a new standard for Jamaican women in the 400m event when she stopped the clock at 48.57s ahead of a quality field.

Pryce’s time also put her eighth on the all-time list for the event.

Ackera Nugent becomes fourth-fastest ever in 100m hurdles

Ackera Nugent established a new national record of 12.24 to win at the Rome Diamond League in August.

That effort put the 23-year-old at fourth on the all-time list for the event, as she now trails only Tobi Amusan (12.12), Kendra Harrison (12.20), and Yordanka Donkova (12.21).