Trinidad and Tobago's bobsleigh team to contest World Cup, Europe Cup this month

Trinidad and Tobago’s bobsleigh team is gearing up for a busy start to their 2024 season.

The Soca Sliders open their account in the two-man event at the BMW International Bobsleigh & Skelton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in St Moritz, Switzerland, on January 13.

Five days later, the two-man team begin their Europe Cup campaign at the same venue, and also get the four-man team going the next day

Joining pilot Axel Brown on TT’s first assignment will be Du Aundre John and Xaverri Williams. It is not yet confirmed who will join Brown in the sled for the World Cup.

For the Europe Cup, Shakeel John reunites with his teammates for the two-man and four-man events.

On February 2, at the Europe Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Brown is hoping to create more history for TT as he is working towards registering the country’s first female bobsledder for the women’s monobob event – an individual version of bobsleigh that has increased women's participation in the sport.

TT-born, Canadian-based Akenke Oliver is his newest recruit and lone prospect for the job, and Brown will use the coming weeks to help her acclimatise as pilot of her own bobsleigh.

Additionally in Austria, Brown is intent on fielding two two-man teams. And if he’s successful on all counts, it will be the first time TT will have three competing teams at one major bobsleigh event.

After a successful 2023 season, Brown wants to use this year for development, as they take aim at the 2026 Winter Olympics qualifiers, which will held between November 2025 and January 2026.

Over the past year, the team has made good progress, having captured TT’s first-ever bobsleigh medal – bronze in the four-man event at the North American Cup in Utah, in November.

They started off the last season by sliding to the nation’s best-ever showing (28th) at a Winter Olympics in February. Additionally, a month ago, the four-man team of Brown, Williams, John and Nicholas King produced a credible tenth-place finish at the Europe Cup in Norway. Impressive, for a Caribbean team.

Brown wants to amplify his work with the four-man team, under TT coach Lee Johnston.

“For 2024, the priority is to keep growing the men’s number one four-man team, but we’re also trying to get other people driving. So for the European Cup in Innsbruck, we are hoping to have a female pilot and another male pilot enter the race.

“We have a little bit of a development camp and we still need to see if they are up to the task. But we are going to put another driver, male and female, in the front seat and try to get them into the race, which would be spectacular: to have three TT sleds in one race would be amazing. What we’re trying to do, when I retire in 2026, there’s people to take it over,” he said.

Brown plans to have an unofficial "bob school" for Oliver and Williams (other potential drivers), so they can acclimatise driving the sled, and hopefully feature at next month’s Europe Cup.

Johnston’s inclusion has helped take some of the responsibility off Brown’s shoulders, since he was heavily involved in coaching and managing the group, while also competing as the pilot.

“Lee’s been incredible for the guys learning the sport, but also for me being able to delegate a few of the responsibilities of being the leader. It’s allowed me to be more of an athlete and less of a coach/performance director/athlete.

“I’ve been able to focus more on the job at hand, and it’s currently showing itself on the track. I want to keep that momentum going so when the guys catch up and are pushing at the same level as I’m driving, we’ll be right in there.”

In 2022, TT competed at the Winter Games in Beijing, China and then at the 2023 World Championships in Switzerland.