Trinidad and Tobago secured its second and third bronze medals at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games when the women’s and men’s cycling team sprint teams ended in the third spot in their respective events at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Velodrome Center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Monday.
The T&T women’s team comprised Kyra Williams, Phoebe Sandy, and Teniel Campbell, while the men’s team was made up of Ryan D’Abreau, Kwesi Browne, and Danell James.
The T&T women combined for a time of one minute, 11.026 seconds, to get to the finish line ahead of the Venezuelan trio of Carliany Martinez, Michell Manzi, and Mariangel Nieves, who clocked a combined time of one minute, 12.391.
The Venezuelans held the early lead through Martinez’ 25.521-second clocking at the end of the first lap, with Williams timed at 25.710.
However, Sandy then stepped up for T&T with a sizzling time of 21.476 on the second lap to Manzi’s 21.880 for T&T to take the overall lead with a time of 47.186 seconds to Venezuela’s 47.401.
And on the third and final lap, Campbell, who won T&T’s first bronze medal on Saturday in the women’s road cycling time trial, then raced home in 23.840 seconds to Nieves’ 24.990 to secure the bronze.
Mexico won the gold in one minute, 05.996 seconds, with Colombia earning silver in one minute, 06.669.
When the qualifying heats took place earlier in the day, T&T qualified for their bronze medal ride as well after a third-place finish in the qualifiers in one minute, 11.953 seconds, and Venezuela, who was fourth best in one minute, 12.498 seconds.
Colombia topped the qualifiers in one minute, 06.519 seconds, with Mexico second in one minute, 07.104 seconds.
The men’s trio then outclassed Venezuela with a time of one minute, 01.960 seconds to one minute, 03.976 for the bronze medal.
Like the women, T&T started slowly, with D’Abreu being timed at 23.342 seconds to trail Venezuelan Yorber Teran (22.432) at the end of lap one while Browne clocked 419.148 to Venezuela’s Alberto Torres’s time of 40.955.
On the final lap, James had to play catch-up, and that he did as his time of 19.470 pushed T&T to the bronze medal spot ahead of Bladimir Alvarado, who was clocked at 23.021.
In the men’s team sprint qualifiers, the T&T cyclists combined for a time of one minute, 01.404 seconds, and third spot, while Venezuela’s was fourth in one minute, 02.854, with Mexico (1:00.260) and Colombia (1:00.274) competing for the gold medal as the top two finishers.
The Mexicans went on to take the gold medal in one minute, 00.802 seconds, with the Colombians securing the silver in one minute, 02.342.
In the men’s team pursuit bronze medal ride contested over 4,000m, the T&T quartet of Tariq Woods, Syndel Samaroo, Liam Trepte, and Akil Campbell ended in the fourth spot with a time of four minutes, 32.443 seconds, well off of Venezuela, who got the bronze in four minutes, 21.469 seconds.
Earlier on in the qualifying heats, T&T qualified for the bronze medal ride against Venezuela after ending in the fourth spot of five teams in the heat in four minutes, 31.032 seconds.
Colombia topped the qualifiers in four minutes, 12.123 seconds, and will face Mexico (4:17.287 min) in the gold medal ride, while Venezuela was third in four minutes, 20.823 seconds, and host Dominican Republic ended in the fifth spot in four minutes, 34.978 seconds.
Tuesday, James and Browne will face the starter in the men’s sprint qualifying 200m, followed by the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals later in the day, while Campbell will compete in the women’s omnium scratch race, tempo race, elimination race, and points race.
Ruggermen fall in bronze match
The T&T men’s rugby sevens team fell one win short of the bronze medal after going down to host country Dominican Republic 12-17 in their third-place playoff.
The host took the lead through David Hightower’s try with Darlin Fernandez adding the conversion for a 7-0 cushion.
Donte Hazzard replied for T&T with a try of his own, but Ruairi O’Farrell missed the conversion as T&T trailed 5-7 at the half-time interval.
On the resumption, T&T came out a rejuvenated unit and went ahead for the first time in the match via a try from Jonathan Taylor, which was backed up this time by a successful conversion from O’Farrell to push the lead to 12-7.
But the Dominican Republic was soon back on level terms at 12-12 through a try from Luis Bueno before he added his second of the match to put his team back in front at 17-12, which they held onto to exact revenge on their 14-15 loss when both teams clashed in their Pool A encounter on Sunday.
In the semifinals, T&T came up short against neighbours Venezuela, 15-19.
Hazzard got T&T on the board first with a try, with O’Farrell adding the two-point conversion for a 7-0 lead.
However, Venezuela was quick to respond with Gustavo Carreno scoring a try and Jeferson Davila making the conversion to level the match at 7-7.
Davila then added a try of his own for a 12-7 lead with Adrian Madriz missing the conversion.
Josue Romero extended the Venezuelans’ lead to 17-7 with a try, which was further boosted by Jhonnaiker Hernandez’s conversion for a 19-7 scoreline.
Jeremiah Moore then got T&T back in the contest with a try, with O’Farrell adding a conversion for a 19-14 score.
In the end, T&T fell short and was consigned to the bronze medal encounter against the Dominican Republic, who fell 7-12 in their semifinal to Colombia.
In the round-robin phase, T&T also registered wins over Costa Rica (20-5) and Barbados (19-10), with their lone defeat coming against Colombia (5-17).
Calypso Stickmen whips Mexico in CAC Games opener
England-based Teague Marcano fired in a hat trick to lead Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s hockey team to a commanding 5-1 whipping of Mexico in their Group A encounter at the Field Hockey Stadium.
Marcano opened the scoring from a penalty-corner set play in the fifth minute before Tariq Singh and Mickell Pierre had near misses to extend T&T’s lead before Marcano doubled his team’s advantage in the 14th minute.
Five minutes into the second period, Mexico had a chance to score a goal back, but Matias Guzman missed his penalty attempt before Marcano hammered home a third penalty corner to complete his hat trick in the 26th minute for a 3-0 lead, which the Calypso Stickmen took into the halftime interval.
T&T, winners of the gold medal in 2002, then put the result beyond doubt with a fourth penalty-corner goal, this time through Joel Daniel in the 38th minute for a 4-0 advantage before Juan Sosa finally got Mexico on the board with a field goal in the 43rd minute.
Five minutes into the final 15-minute quarter, Jordan Reynos scored from yet another penalty-corner set play for T&T, after which Sheldon De Lisle, Nicolas Whiteman, and Daniel all had attempts on goal saved.
At the other end, the T&T defence stood firm to repel any attempts by the Mexicans.
The win for T&T exacted revenge for their 5-1 loss to the Mexicans in the 2023 final at the same venue, adding to previous runner-up finishes in 1993, 2006, 2010, and 2014, while they also got bronze in 1986, 1998, and 2018.
Barbados also won their opening match, 4-2 over Guatemala, in the other Group A encounter.
In Pool B, Cuba earned a hard-fought 1–0 victory over Jamaica with captain Iraidys Calderón scoring the only goal of the match in the 17th minute, while Venezuela and Dominican Republic drew goalless.
On Wednesday, T&T faces Barbados at 10 am while Mexico meets Guatemala from 12 noon, and on Friday, July 31, Mexico faces Barbados from 10 am, followed by T&T versus Guatemala from 2 pm.
Richards Jr still in
golf medal hunt
At the Corales Golf Course, T&T’s Chris Richards Jr kept up his hopes of a medal when a carded a second straight even par 72 to sit in the joint fifth position with host player Juan Jose Guerra Sanoja, both at two under-par 214 after 54 holes going into Tuesday’s final day’s of competition.
The 21-year-old Richards Jr recorded birdies on the par-three 11th, par-four 13th, par-three 17th, and par-four 18th holes.
However, Richards Jr also recorded his first double bogey on the par-four fifth hole while he also bogeyed the par-three second and par-four tenth holes.
Gold medal favourite Guatemalan Jose Manuel Toledo Novales carded a five-under-par 67 to push his three-day total to 16-under-par 200, leading Venezuelan Manuel Alejandro Torres Salazar by nine shots.
Salazar shot a third round four under par, 68, and sits at seven under par, 209, one stroke ahead of Mexico’s Luis Carrera Melia, who carded a five under par, 67, for a three-day score of six under par, 210, one ahead of the Dominican Republic’s Guillermo Ramon Pumarol Hernandez, who carded a two under par, 70, in the third round.
Davidson, Glasgow get
beach volleyball win
The women’s beach volleyball duo of Malika Davidson and Apphia Glasgow got their first win after two straight defeats in Group C when they swept past Grenadians Thornia Mitchell and Renish Stafford 21-16, 21-19.
In their first two matches, the T&T women were beaten by Guatemala’s Paola Alvarado and Naomi Monney 7-21 and 9-21 and Mexicans Abril Flores and Susana Torres 5-21 and 5-1.
Davidson and Glasgow will conclude pool play versus Hondurans Reizel Bruhier and Shanna Rivera on Wednesday, needing a win to have any chance of a quarterfinal spot.
However, in men’s Group D play, national men’s duo Jahreef Miguel and Jerome Morrison suffered a first loss in two matches, 8-21 and 11-21, to Cubans Damian Gomez and Eblis Verane.
On Sunday, Miguel and Morrison won their pool opener against Antigua and Barbuda’s Miguel Lugo and Raenor Sharpe 17-21, 21-17, and 15-7.
They will return to the court today to face El Salvador’s Rafael Vargas and Gabriel Vargas before playing Belize’s Ernest Broaster and Francis Hauze a day later to end pool play.
Albada still in the hunt
Surfer Aiden Albada was third in the fourth and final second-round heat with a score of 10.86 after earning 6.03 points on wave one and 4.83 on wave two.
Costa Rican Samuel Reidy topped the heat with a score of 13.50, while Colombian Romeo Chavez was second with a score of 11.90.
On Sunday, Albada kept his medal hopes alive when he won the men’s shortboard repechage heat one with 9.54 points, beating Nicaraguan Oscar Guzman (8.37) and Barbadian Lewis St John (6.46) into second and third positions, respectively.
Today, T&T will next face El Salvador, followed by Mexico on Wednesday to end pool play.
In taekwondo, T&T’s Nicholas Knight advanced past Guatemala’s David Fuentes 2-0 in the 58kg quarterfinals, winning rounds 18-4 and 23-8. In the semifinals, though, Knight was eliminated 2-0 by Mexico’s Zaid Perez, falling 12-18 and 6-14.
Competing in the archery mixed team compound round of 16, T&T’s Samir Ramjattan and Tennille Plata went under to the Dominican Republic’s Tsmarlin Ramos and Mario Berges 143-151.
On Sunday evening, in men’s taekwondo, Nicholas Knight was beaten in his men’s 58 kg kyorugi bronze medal battle by the Dominican Republic’s Cristofer Reyes 2-0 after losing round one 5-20 and round two 3-12.
Knight had beaten Guatemalan David Fuentes 2-0 (18-4, 23-8) in his quarterfinal before a semifinal defeat against Mexico’s Zaid Perez 0-2 (12-18, 6-14).
