Cyclist Nicholas Paul and sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye added to their hauls of First Citizens Sportsman of the Year and Sportswoman of the Year Awards at the 61st annual function at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain on Saturday night.
It was the third such honour for the 25-year-old Paul, who also copped the prestigious award in 2019 and 2021 while for the 31-year-old Ahye, it was her fourth win having previously captured the award in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
With her win, Ahye has now equalled former badminton champion Debra O’Connor (1983, 1986, 1990, and 1993) and swimmer Siobhan Cropper (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999) with the second most First Citizens Sportswoman of the Year wins, one behind Cleopatra Borel who is the record awards winner with five following triumphs in 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2015.
Last year, Paul battled his way back from severe injury with a stunning display at the UCI Nations Cup event in Milton, Canada where he pedalled his way to the men’s Match Sprint gold medal and also earned the bronze medal in the Keirin bronze.
Then at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, Paul won the gold in the Match Sprint and silver in the Keirin before he won the double at the Pan Am Track Championships, achieving victories in the Match Sprint and Keirin events while leading the T&T team which also included Zion Pulido and Kwesi Browne to a second-place in the Team sprint.
At the UCI Track World Championship in Glasgow, Scotland, Paul was beaten in the Match Sprint final and had to settle for the silver medal while at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) in San Salvador, Paul claimed the individual Sprint title beating countryman Browne in the final while in the Team Sprint, the duo and Pulido got bronze.
Veteran track athlete Ahye earned a bronze medal in the women’s 100-metre dash at the 2023 Pan Am Games to finish her 2023 season on a high, as she clocked 11.53 seconds to finish behind gold medal winner, Cuba’s Yunisleidy Garcia (11.36) and Jasmine Abrams of Guyana, who clocked 11.52 seconds.
This display came after Ahye got to the 100 metres semifinals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and on local soil the Carenage resident also thrived where she was based for 2023, winning the women’s 100m title at the NAAA Championships at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
Swimmer Nikoli Blackman made it four straight wins in the Youth Sportsman of the Year title after another sensational year was highlighted by his 50-meter freestyle title win at the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel.
Blackman, now attached to the University of Tennessee, also captured three gold medals—50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 200m freestyle—during the Commonwealth Youth Games which was held in T&T last year, and won the same events at the Carifta Swimming Championships; and a sojourn into the senior level at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games yielded a 200m freestyle silver medal and a 4x100m freestyle relay bronze.
Track and Field starlet Janae De Gannes captured the Youth Sportswoman of the Year top award after grabbing a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games following a hard-fought battle with Australia’s Delta Amidzowski in the long jump final.
At the NACAC Under-18—Under-23 Championships, De Gannes won the Under-18 long jump (6.11 meters—championship record) and 4x100 metres relay titles, while she claimed a pair of silver medals in the Under-20 long jump and 4x100 relay events at the Carifta Track and Field Games in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Lystra Lewis Award for the Team of the Year was captured by the T&T National 3x3 basketball team of twin brothers Ahkeem and Ahkeel Boyd, skipper Moriba De Freitas, and Chilke Augustine who won a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan Am Games, Santiago, Chile.
The team was coached by Christopher Jackson Charles, with Wayne Samuel as manager and trainer.
The Sports Awards function honoured the outstanding achievements of some 100-plus athletes who demonstrated unparalleled skill, dedication, and sportsmanship across various disciplines in 2023.
The function also saw the induction of awardees into the Sports Hall of Fame for 2024 who included Candice Scott (athletics), Cleopatra Borel (athletics), Marc Burns (athletics), Deon Lendore (posthumous-athletics), Pearl Gooding ((posthumous- athletics), Leslie Stewart (boxing), Charles Joseph (coach), Kwandwane Browne (hockey), Edmund De Freitas (trainer/horse racing), Gordon Borde (administrator/swimming), Candilla Berment (administrator/special Olympics), and Devan Mahadeo (posthumous-special olympian/administrator).
During her brief address, First Citizens Group Chief Executive Officer Karen Darbasie said, “Through the invaluable work of the First Citizens Sports Foundation, it has been a privilege to provide sustained support, critical opportunities and very importantly deserving recognition, to the hundreds who have carried our sporting hopes and dreams.”
She added praised all the athletes for their hard work and dedication to their sport as well as being more than just sportsmen and sportswomen saying, “This tremendous and concerted effort, is what it takes to create and honour generations of conquerors. Yet, as we mark our 20th anniversary and host the 61st edition of these awards, we pause not only to celebrate and reward but also to invite our athletes to remember they are more than conquerors, you, each of you, are an inspiration and a role model for the next generation.
The Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis also gave words of inspiration to the awardees, thanking them for representing the red, black, and white proudly on the world sports stage.
