Trinidad and To­ba­go was fea­tured at the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the 2026 Win­ter Olympics on Fri­day; the icy chutes of the bob­sleigh track are set to re­ceive an un­prece­dent­ed wave of Caribbean heat.

For the first time in Olympic his­to­ry, two trop­i­cal na­tions, Ja­maica and Trinidad and To­ba­go, will com­pete in the pre­mier four-man bob­sleigh event.

T&T, mark­ing its own land­mark ap­pear­ance, has al­so qual­i­fied a men’s two-man sled.

Pi­lot Ax­el Brown will lead their con­tin­gent, which in­cludes ath­letes Sha­keel John, De Aun­dre John, Xaver­ri Williams, and Mic­ah Moore, across the two-man and four-man events.

The T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) an­nounces the ap­point­ment of flag bear­ers Nikhil Al­leyne (men) and Em­ma Gat­cliffe (women) for yes­ter­day’s open­ing cer­e­mo­ny, a mo­ment that cap­tures the heart, re­silience, and am­bi­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go sport.

As the red, white, and black rise on the world’s biggest win­ter sport stage, the fol­low­ing ath­letes have been en­trust­ed with the ho­n­our of car­ry­ing the na­tion­al flags dur­ing the Open­ing Cer­e­monies across the Games’ com­pe­ti­tion clus­ters:

For both ath­letes who will be com­pet­ing in the gi­ant slalom and slalom events at the Games, this ho­n­our rep­re­sents far more than in­di­vid­ual recog­ni­tion. It is a sym­bol of years of sac­ri­fice, per­se­ver­ance, and be­lief — and a trib­ute to the en­tire TeamT­TO fam­i­ly, cit­i­zens, team­mates, coach­es, sup­port staff, and loved ones who have stood be­side them every step of the jour­ney.

As mem­bers of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s his­toric Win­ter Olympic Alpine Ski Team, Nikhil Al­leyne and Em­ma Gat­cliffe em­body what is pos­si­ble when de­ter­mi­na­tion meets op­por­tu­ni­ty.

Their se­lec­tion re­flects not on­ly ath­let­ic ex­cel­lence but al­so the col­lec­tive strength, uni­ty, and spir­it of a team that has dared to dream be­yond bor­ders, cli­mate, and con­ven­tion.

Re­flect­ing on the ho­n­our, Nikhil Al­leyne said, “To car­ry the flag for Trinidad and To­ba­go at the Olympic Win­ter Games is deeply hum­bling. I do this with the strength and sup­port of my team­mates, coach­es, and every­one who be­lieved in us. We car­ry our coun­try’s hopes to­geth­er.”

Em­ma Gat­cliffe added, “This mo­ment is in­cred­i­bly emo­tion­al. Be­ing named a flag bear­er is an ho­n­our I share with my en­tire team. We have pushed each oth­er, sup­port­ed each oth­er, and now we stand to­geth­er on the Win­ter Olympic stage for Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

The Mi­lano Corti­na 2026 Win­ter Olympic Games will be host­ed across mul­ti­ple clus­ters from 6 to 22 Feb­ru­ary 2026, with TeamT­TO ath­letes com­pet­ing in Alpine ski­ing and bob­sleigh, con­tin­u­ing the na­tion’s grow­ing pres­ence in win­ter sport and its proud Olympic lega­cy.

Two caul­drons in­spired by the work of Leonar­do da Vin­ci were lit, one in front of the Ar­co del­la Pace in Mi­lan be­fore mov­ing to San Siro foot­ball sta­di­um, and the oth­er one in Pi­az­za Di­bona, Corti­na d’Am­pez­zo.