Sprinters Jereem Richards and Kelly-Ann Baptiste were named Trinidad and Tobago’s Athletes of the Year 2019.
Richards, the London 2017 men’s 200m silver medallist, missed out on the Doha 2020 final. He, however, won gold at the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games and helped Trinidad and Trinidad to bronze in the 4x400m.
Baptiste, who won 100m bronze at the Daegu 2011, also failed to make the final in Doha 2019. She was 8th at the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games and helped her team to 4th in the women’s 4x100m.
In Doha 2019, Baptiste made the semi-finals and helped her team to 6th in the 4x100m relay.
“The year was very difficult, especially for our senior athletes, with the World Championships being held late September early October, very different (from the regular time). Never before, so I guess coaches and athletes had to deal with the periodization to ensure they would have peaked at the right time,” explained Ephraim Serrette, president of the NAAA (National Association of Athletic Administrations).
Trinidad and Tobago ended the 10-day Championships without a single medal. They started Doha 2019 as the defending men’s 4x400m champion.
Shaniqua Bascombe was voted as the female Youth Athlete of the Year and Devin Augustine the boys’ Athlete of the Year.
The Cougars Athletic Club also continued their run of success with another Champion Juvenile Club award.
In the U20 category, the top athletes were Tyriq Horsford and Safiya John.