Keshorn, Molino, Ramharack among First Citizens wards nominees

Over 90 athletes from more than 25 disciplines will be vying for top honours when the 63rd edition of the First Citizens Sports Awards are held at NAPA, Port of Spain, on January 17.

Starting as the hot favourite for the 2025 First Citizens Sportsman of the Year award will be 2025 World Athletics Championships men's javelin gold medallist Keshorn Walcott, who has recently added to his trophy collection with the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) Sportsman of the Year award as well the National Association of Athletics Administration's (NAAATT) Senior Male and Most Outstanding Male Field Athlete of the Year awards.

The 32-year-old Walcott is athletics' senior nominee in the male category and could keep the NAAATT at the top of the pack as his colleague Jereem Richards won the First Citizens Sportsman of the Year award for 2024. Walcott ended a 13-year wait for a Worlds medal when he launched the spear 88.16 metres in September 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.

Other notable nominees for the Sportsman of the Year award are ace cyclist Nicholas Paul, former national footballer Kevin Molino, para-athlete Akeem Stewart and powerlifter Joseph McDonald, who sprung into the national limelight with a gold-medal performance at the 2025 International Powerlifting Federation World Classic Junior Powerlifting Championships in 2025.

Paul's 2025 included a triple crown at the Elite Pan American Championships in Paraguay in April, to go along with a gold and silver medal at the Bolivarian Games which were held in Peru in December. Stewart once again showed off his raw power on the international stage as he claimed silver in the men's F44 discus final at the World Para Athletics Championships back in October. Meanwhile, in November, the 35-year-old Molino closed the chapter on his international career at the end of the TT men's football team's failed qualification run to the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

The race for the Sportswoman of the Year honour is an intriguing one and includes 2024 winner Karishma Ramharack, the TT women's cricket team skipper, as well as sprinter Leah Bertrand, who has recently added a few accolades to her name by capturing the TTOC Sportswoman of the Year award and the NAAATT's Sportswoman of the Year and the Women's Track Athlete of the Year honours.

Also vying for Sportswoman of the Year honours are table tennis starlet Chloe Fraser, endurance cyclist Teniel Campbell and rising football sensation Nikita Gosine, who was named the TT Football Association's (TTFA) Women's Player of the Year for 2025.

Among those vying for the top spots in the youth categories are: Fraser; Liam Carrington; Derrel Garcia; Janae De Gannes; Zuri Ferguson; Shian Lewis; Jaden Marchan; Orielle Martin; Jelani Nedd and TT and West Indies youth cricketer Samara Ramnath. Last year, Nedd cycled off with the Youth Sportsman of the Year award, with fellow cyclist Makaira Wallace copping the Youth Sportswoman of the Year prize. At the Junior Pan American Games in August, Nedd was a member of a TT team which claimed bronze in the men's team cycling sprint event.