Trinidad and Tobago’s athletes at the 2026 Carifta Games, hosted by Grenada for the second time in three years, blew past even the most audacious predictions before they even touched soil with another stellar showing on the third and final day of the 53rd edition in St. George’s, Grenada on Monday.
Tenique Vincent again completed Team TTO’s most unique double with a 5028 points total to add another Vincent family gold to the collection after Tyrique won the Boys Under-20 Decathlon on Sunday evening.
In 2025 T&T won 25 medals (9 gold, six silver, and 10 bronze), Ephraim Serrette, president of the NAAATT had predicted before the team departed for the Games that he is targeting 30-plus medals in Grenda after evaluating the talent depth of the team. T&T copped 35 medals, ten more with nine golds, 11 silvers and 15 bronze medals. Jamaica topped the 22 countries that medal with 71 medals (28 gold, 27 silver, and 16 bronze)
In 2025 Vincent won the event with a 5053 total, this year, she won the High Jump (1.71m), Shot Put (10.34m), 200 metres (24.64s), Long Jump (5.56m) and Javelin (33.69m) on her way to leading a T&T double appearance on the nutmeg emblazoned podium in front the stadium’s main stand.
Kaori Robley won the 100 metre Hurdles in 14.32 seconds, 200m in 24.16, and remained among the top three for most of her programme to earn a silver.
Kiile Alexander dominated the Boys Under-20 800 metres final on his way to an emphatic finish in 1:50.38 seconds. Alexander led throughout in one of the races of the evening, Grenada’s Nicholas Frederick took silver in 1:51.22, much to the delight of the home support, Jamaica’s Joel Morgan was third in 1:51.72 seconds.
In the final morning session, Michal Paul leapt to Trinidad and Tobago’s sixth gold medal of the 53rd Carifta Games at the Kirani James Stadium in St. George’s, Grenada.
In 2025, at the 52nd games hosted by T&T at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Paul took bronze in the event with a best effort of 7.03 metres.
This time around, Paul got it done early; his first attempt, 6.93 metres, was enough to take him to Team TTO’s first medal of the final day.
Asked about his performance, Paul had some notes to himself
“I feel happy with myself, I would say I’m satisfied, but I’m really not with the jump distance-wise, but with the medal I am,” Paul said.
“My (intention) was to jump the record or at least tie the record, but with the unpredictable wind it was almost impossible, but I had the attitude that if i came out here and did my thing like I always do in training I would be fine.”
Jaafari Shaw was also golden in the Boys Under-17 Discus throw with a best effort of 56.30 metres.
Shaw’s second attempt got him his second medal in Grenada after a Shot Put bronze on Sunday.
Grenada’s Kazim Telesford was second with his third throw, a distance of 53.04 metres; Jamaica’s Xavier Tracey was third with his first throw, 51.30 metres.
Jenna-Marie Thomas will return home with two medals after adding silver in the Girls Under-20 (0.838m) 100 metre Hurdles to her 400 metre hurdles medal on Sunday.
Thomas ran a time of 13.93 seconds to finish between Jamaica’s Tiana Marshall (13.43s) and the US Virgin Islands’ (USVI) Sofia Swindell, 13.94, in a battle for the second spot on the rostrum.
Her T&T teammate Kewes Gomes was seventh in the final in 14.73 seconds.
In the Girls Under-17 race, Chelcia Joseph bagged a bronze in 13.96 seconds behind gold medallist Tashana Godfrey of Jamaica in 13.27 and another Jamaican, Micaela Gordon, in 13.39
Jael Peters added a Girls Under-17 200 metre silver to her 4×100 metres silver from Sunday’s evening session, with a 23.95 second performance in the half lap.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Tyra Fenton gave her country their first gold of the games on the final evening, finishing in 23.39 seconds. Peters was second in 23.95, and the Bahamas’ Keyezra Thomas was third in 24.03 seconds.
Peters 4×100 Under-17 teammate Eden Chee-Wah was just short of her own double, finishing fourth in 24.12.
Jeremy Sorzano willed himself to bronze in the boys Under-20 5000 metres.
Fifth by the 4600 metre mark, Sorzano gave it his all to leave St. George’s with something, finishing in 16:07.34. Barbados’ Luke McIntyre won in 15.42.51, the USVI’s Ayden Cintron took silver in 16:03.61.
Jelany Chinyelu’s fourth throw of 16.62 saw him to a bronze medal in the Boys Under-20 Shot Put (6kg).
Barbados’ Jayden Walcott and Jamaica’s Joseph Salmon finished first and second, with best efforts of 18.41 and 18.17, respectively.
Girls’ 1500 metres gold and silver medallists Nyla Kerr and Oshea Cummings teamed up with 4×100 silver medallist Eden Chee-Wah and first-timer Soleil Caruth for bronze in the Girls 4×400 metres relay.
The four made a valiant effort to keep Jamaica’s team within touching distance, finishing the quarter-mile relay in 3:45.64. Jamaica won in 3:40.11. Bahamas’ Keyezra Thomas bade her time before overtaking Kerr for silver, finishing in 3:44.39.
And Omari Brown, Makaelan Woods, and Kiile Alexander earned their second medals of the games, helping Brion Scott to his first in the final event of the 53rd Games.
Trinidad and Tobago finished fourth, but the Bahamas were disqualified for making a pass outside the zone.
Team TTO’s last medallists of Grenada crossed the line fourth in 3:10.64 but were upgraded to bronze in a last bit of drama to close out a successful games.
Trinidad and Tobago finished with 35 medals 10 more than last year and five more than predicted by National Association of Athletics Administrations President Epraim Serrette’s prediction.
More than that, the next generation of athletes showed resolve, moxie, and maturity beyond their years, representing the red, white, and black in a manner that will stand as an example for those to come after them and countless others looking on; in the stadium and everywhere else where Trinbagonians stand.
