Six Tobago track and field athletes for Tokyo Games

As expected, the sport of athletics will take up the majority of seats for Trinidad and Tobago on the flight to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The media release by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) featured 21 track and field athletes in a contingent of 30, vying for medals across seven disciplines.

The Olympic hopefuls will be headlined by Keshorn Walcott who won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England and took bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Five of the six overseas-based Tobago athletes chosen on the Olympic team previously starred for Zenith Athletic Club but are now aligned to other local clubs.

Akani Hislop, who was part of the 2021 Louisiana State University's 4x100 metres relay winning team at the NCAA Championships in the United States, will represent TT in the 4x100 metres relay.

Dwight St Hillaire, who attends the University of Kentucky, will run the individual men’s 400 metres event and also line up with the 4x400 metres relay team.

Andwuelle Wright, who has a personal best of 8.23 metres in the long jump, will be TT’s lone male representative in the event.

Sprinter Ayla Stanisclaus, who attends the New Mexico Junior College and has a personal best time of 11.24 seconds in the 100 metres, will be one of five females eyeing a spot on the 4x100 metres relay team.

Hislop, St Hallaire and Wright – members of Kaizen Panthers Athletic Club – along with Stanisclaus, who represents RSS Phoenix Athletic Club locally, will be making their Olympic debut in Tokyo.

Semoy Hackett (Kaizen Panthers) and Kelly Ann Baptiste (Zenith Athletic Club) will be hoping to end their medal drought at the global showpiece.

Baptiste, who will face the starter in the individual 100 metres and 4x100 metres relay, is the most senior member of the TT track and field team.

The 34-year-old Plymouth native, who started her Olympic career at Athens, Greece in 2004, has a best place finish of sixth in the 100 metres which she achieved in the final at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Hackett made her Olympic debut in 2008 but has never gotten past the semi-final round in the 100 and 200 metres sprints.

Trinidad and Tobago will also be represented in the sporting disciplines of boxing, cycling, judo, swimming, rowing and sailing at the Olympics.

The highly anticipated Games, which was delayed for one year due to the covid19 pandemic, will run from July 23 to August 8 when the closing ceremony is carded for the National Stadium in Tokyo.