Trinidad and Tobago javelin youth star Tyriq Horsford retires at 24

ONE of Trinidad and Tobago's greatest ever Carifta athletes Tyriq Horsford has called time on his career, aged 24.

"Sadly, due to medical issues, I am announcing my retirement from the sport," Horsford wrote on social media.

Horsford has struggled to stay fit, with shoulder and especially elbow injuries hampering his progress.

It was almost a guarantee when Horsford was named on the TT Carifta team that he would win a gold medal. The Tobagonian is a five-time javelin gold medallist at the Carifta Games, winning gold at five consecutive games from 2015-2019.

Horsford first competed in the Under-18 age group before graduating to the Under-20 category. The five medals he won included multiple meet records.

Horsford comes from a sporting family, as his cousins Kelsey Daniel and Andwuelle Wright are TT long jumpers, with the latter competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The cousins all hail from Tobago.

After leaving TT, he continued his career at Mississippi State University.

Horsford did not want his career to end this way.

"This is not how I envisioned my journey ending, but I believe everything happens for a reason. I am profoundly thankful for the individuals and organisations that have guided me along this path."

He thanked many people and organisations, including Wade Franklyn, his coach at Zenith Athletic Club in Tobago; the National Association of Athletics Administrations; the TT Olympic Committee; and the coaching staff at Mississippi State, including coach Chris Woods.

Horsford encouraged athletes to value all their moments when competing.

He said, "To the athletes still competing, cherish every moment in the sport, train with purpose, and remember that track and field owes you nothing. You owe it to yourself to pursue your dreams relentlessly.

"To my fellow athletes turned friends, thank you for the unforgettable memories and I hope our paths cross again. I am at peace."

Speaking to Newsday, Franklyn said, "He tried throwing on it for a whole year, and every time he threw he had to rest for two months because of the kind of pain."

Franklyn said he had wanted to see Horsford achieve more at the senior level.

"The plans that I had for him just come and change," Franklyn said.

Franklyn started coaching Horsford when the latter was just eight. Horsford was always a special talent, he said.

"At that time we used to use the cricket ball (to throw). He could have run, did hurdles, do high jump, long jump: he was like a multi-discipline athlete.

"As a junior, he used to do all those things, but then I realised the javelin was the one he was excelling in the most. That's why I moved him off from the others and concentrated on the javelin."

The Olympic stage was always the goal, Franklyn said.

"That was the plan. He was supposed to come home when he finished school and then we would have worked towards that. But everything just went downhill with that elbow, because it was about two years now he had that problem."

Franklyn said Horsford is a fighter and for him to retire, his elbow has to be a serious issue.

"He is not the type of guy that will drop it."

The 2017 Carifta Games was one of the most memorable moments that Frankyln shared with Horsford: "When we went Curacao. When we were training I kept telling him, 'Tyriq, you are going to throw over 75 (metres) in the competition.' He did not believe me.

"The type of training we were doing, he could have only gone further and further every time...it was really amazing to see that he went 76.50m, which is the Under-18 record."