分类： sports

A new generation of Barbadian karting talent is gearing up to compete on the regional stage this weekend, as four young drivers prepare to represent their country at the 2025 Nations Cup Caribbean Karting Championship hosted in Trinidad. The four-day race meet, bringing together some of the top junior karting talent across the Caribbean, will see competitors from three other nations join the host defending champions Trinidad and Tobago at the newly revamped Frankie Boodram Wallerfield International Raceway, with on-track action kicking off Thursday.

The Barbados squad blends experienced returning competitors with first-time debutants: Aeden Bruce and Oliver Judd are no strangers to the pressure of international regional competition, while Jordyn Hinkson and Jaylan Priddee will make their first appearances at the prestigious Nations Cup event.

Senator Andrew Mallalieu, president of the Barbados Motoring Federation, highlighted that regional karting competition has grown steadily since the launch of the Caribbean Junior Karting Academy Trophy in 2019. Over the years, top-tier competitive racing has been hosted at venues including Barbados’ Bushy Park and tracks across Jamaica, with the sport also fostering tight, lasting cross-border friendships between drivers across the region.

“I wish all four of them the very best of luck at Wallerfield this weekend and am looking forward to travelling down on Sunday to watch the final day of competition,” Mallalieu said in a statement ahead of the event.

The quartet comes to Trinidad with strong domestic form backing their bid for podium finishes. Bruce, who claimed the 2025 Barbados Karting Association Easkykart 100cc national title, currently holds third place in the association’s 125cc overall standings. Hinkson, meanwhile, has claimed back-to-back second-place finishes in the 60cc Cadets class over the past two racing seasons and notched 22 career race wins to date. Both Judd and Priddee have also secured 100cc race wins on home soil in 2025, proving they have the pace to compete against the region’s best.

After a breakthrough performance that earned him a bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter event at the World Junior Athletics Championships held in Oregon, U.S.-based Barbadian sprinter Jayden Green touched down back on his home island to a rousing welcome late Tuesday night.

Green and the rest of the Barbadian national contingent stepped out of the airport’s arrivals hall just minutes ahead of midnight, where cheering supporters and senior representatives from the Athletic Association of Barbados had gathered to celebrate the team’s successful run at the global under-20 competition.

In interviews following his arrival, the young sprinter expressed satisfaction with his showing in Oregon, even as he revealed he is already looking ahead to a well-deserved break during the upcoming off-season to recharge ahead of future competitions.

“There’s no better feeling than bringing another world-level medal back to my country, and earning a spot among the top under-20 sprinters on the global stage,” Green shared with reporters.

The bronze medal in Oregon marks a significant turnaround for the athlete, who opened the 2024 season with underwhelming results that left him dissatisfied. After competing at the CARIFTA Games in Grenada and the domestic Barbados Grand Prix, Green openly admitted he was unhappy with his race times at both early-season events. Looking back, he credits his commitment to consistent training and sticking to his team’s planned process for delivering when it mattered most at the world championships.

“For me, this result came down to showing up every day, staying consistent, and executing my race plan when it counted. Even though my final time in Oregon wasn’t as fast as I had hoped I would run, at the end of the day, it’s the medal that matters most in a championship setting,” Green said. “I knew going into the back half of the season that I would get another chance to compete for a medal, and I just had to stay ready to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Framing his world junior bronze as a key stepping stone in his burgeoning athletic career, Green said he views the result as proof that he can compete with the world’s best young sprinters, and he is already confident he can deliver even stronger performances in future competitions.

Opening up about the pressures of the 200m final, Green acknowledged that the race was far from an easy outing. He confessed to feeling nervous lining up against the top under-20 sprinters from around the globe, but worked to channel that energy into focus rather than letting it derail his performance.

“I was definitely a little nervous going up against those guys, but at the end of the day, they’re just normal athletes like me,” he explained. “Even with the nerves, I just focused on blocking out the noise, sticking to my race plan, and listening to the advice my coaches had given me. It was an extra special feeling to be the only Caribbean competitor in that final and come home with a medal.”

The 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League kicked off with a heart-stopping opening clash at Kingston’s Sabina Park on Tuesday night, where new Barbados Tridents captain Chris Green enjoyed a dream debut in leadership, guiding his side to a tense five-run victory over host franchise Jamaica Kingsmen.

Sent into bat first by Jamaica’s skipper Rovaman Powell, the Tridents got their campaign off to a blistering start through opening pair Brandon King and Zachary Carter. The duo scattered boundaries across every corner of Sabina Park, with Carter blasting 27 runs from only 15 deliveries before falling in the 16th over of the innings. King carried on his aggressive form, finishing as the Tridents’ top scorer with a 51-ball 73, studded with five fours and four sixes. Wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock added a quickfire 42 from 25 deliveries, while all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford remained unbeaten on a 28-ball 50. By the end of their 20 overs, the Tridents had posted a challenging total of 206 runs for the loss of three wickets, a target the Kingsmen ultimately could not reach.

In response, the Kingsmen got off to a solid start, with Powell contributing a quick 38 from 24 deliveries and Keacy Carty hitting 42 from 27 runs to keep the hosts in the hunt. It was Tridents paceman Daniel Sams, named Player of the Match, who turned the tide with timely wicket-taking bursts at critical stages of the innings, finishing with outstanding figures of four wickets for just 20 runs.

The match came down to a nail-biting final over, with the Kingsmen requiring 15 runs to seal a win off the last six balls. Tridents seamer Ramon Simmonds took the ball and delivered a dramatic finish, claiming two key wickets to swing the result back in his side’s favour. After a single and two wides from Simmonds’ first three deliveries, Andre Russell launched a massive six that left the Kingsmen needing just six runs off three deliveries. Simmonds responded with a clutch wicket, catching Russell off his own bowling the very next delivery. Russell had carried the Kingsmen’s late-innings charge with an explosive 68 off 38 balls, which included nine towering sixes. On the very next delivery, Simmonds dismissed Vitel Lawes (who had compiled a well-set 32 off 20 balls) to put the game out of Jamaica’s reach. The Kingsmen closed their innings at 201 runs for nine wickets, falling five runs short of the target.

Speaking after the match, Green acknowledged the quality of Jamaica’s star batters and praised his side’s ability to hold their nerve under pressure. “Rovman Powell and Andre Russell are two of the most powerful hitters in the world. They’re some of the best in the business for a reason, and even when you think you’re ahead of the game or sneaking close to home, they just hit their way out of it. Sometimes you just have to tip the cap and say we entertained the crowd tonight,” the Tridents captain said.

Fresh off a standout performance from its junior team at the 2022 World Athletics Junior Championships in Oregon, Barbados is laying out an ambitious plan to secure its first multi-medal haul at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Athletics Association of Barbados (AAB) has announced a $1.5 million annual elite athlete development program tailored to accelerate the progress of the nation’s top senior track and field talent, building directly on the success of its existing junior development pipeline. AAB President Noel Lynch publicly unveiled the initiative Tuesday night, greeting the 11-member junior squad as it returned home from Oregon, where the team impressed global observers by advancing to four event finals and eight semi-finals – highlighted by a bronze medal in the men’s 100m from rising star Jayden Green.

Lynch framed the new senior program as the logical next step after the AAB’s junior work delivered consistent competitive gains, designed to give Barbadian athletes the specialized support they need to compete for top honors on the world’s biggest sporting stage. He revealed that the idea for the expanded effort gained immediate buy-in from the highest levels of national government, noting that just 15 minutes after Barbados won the men’s 4x400m relay at this year’s CARIFTA Games, Prime Minister Mia Mottley reached out to ask what resources the team needed to elevate athletes to elite global status. Mottley has followed through on that commitment with full financial backing for the program, Lynch confirmed.

Structured similarly to the successful junior development framework, the senior initiative will launch with a small, focused cohort of 10 to 12 athletes who are not yet prepared to relocate to the United States to take up collegiate athletic scholarships. A key pillar of the program is a living stipend for participating athletes, a change Lynch said addresses a longstanding barrier to elite training: many local athletes have been forced to work full-time jobs to support themselves, leaving them too exhausted to put in the rigorous daily training required to compete at the world level.

In addition to structured morning and evening training sessions, cohort members will gain access to a full suite of wraparound support services, including professional massage therapy, personalized nutritional planning, and sports psychology counseling. The program will also accommodate athletes who have already completed collegiate scholarships abroad and returned to Barbados, but still retain the potential to deliver elite competitive results. Lynch emphasized that, just like the junior program, the impact of the senior initiative will unfold gradually, with visible improvements expected in coming years.

Looking ahead to upcoming competitions, Lynch said the team will test its progress at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Beijing and the 2023 NACAC Senior and Junior Championships, before building toward the 2028 Games. He set a clear, bold target of winning two or three medals in Los Angeles, pushing back against critics who dismiss the goal as unrealistic. Lynch recalled that when the AAB predicted sprinter Obadele Thompson would win an Olympic medal ahead of the 2000 Sydney Games, observers dismissed the claim as outlandish – a prediction that ultimately proved correct. “Barbadians can do this,” he said.

Lynch pointed to the Oregon results as proof that the development pipeline is already producing world-class talent. Comparing times, he noted that the U.S. men’s 4x400m relay team won World Junior gold in 3:01.39, while Barbados’ junior 4x400m squad clocked a CARIFTA Games record of 3:05.49 earlier this year. Lynch argued that if the Barbadian core of Jayden Green, Amir Thompson, Aidan Moore and Shamari Greenidge Lewis had the chance to compete against the U.S. team, they could have beaten the American time and even taken home a world junior record. “All the members of this team endorse that,” he added.

Beyond the relay squad, Lynch highlighted the breakthrough performances of several individual athletes in Oregon, saying the results prove the AAB’s development model is working. He called Jayden Green a potential 19-second 200m runner, noted that Amir Thompson – an athlete with elite pedigree – has committed to competing for Barbados, and highlighted surprise breakout performances from previously unranked Taylor Foster and Rashad Gibson, who advanced to a World Junior semi-final against expectations. Shot putter Jayden Walcott finished sixth at the global competition in a discipline that is not a traditional Barbadian strength, while 400m runner Kadia Rock demonstrated world-class skill, Lynch added.

Looking forward, the AAB is actively working to recruit top talent from the global Barbadian diaspora, with the goal of fielding a fully competitive world-class senior men’s 4x100m relay team for future international competitions, including the 2028 Olympics.