TT field athlete Keshorn Walcott shows the gold medal he won at the World Championships. – Photos by Angelo Marcelle

Former national quarter-miler Alvin Daniel has warned that Trinidad and Tobago cannot afford another almost decade-long wait between podium finishes at the World Athletics Championships.

Javelin specialist Keshorn Walcott and track star Jereem Richards broke the eight-year drought at the just concluded championships in Tokyo, with the former spearing to a historic gold medal, and the latter speeding to 400m silver in a national record of 43.72 seconds.

Daniel, who was part of TT’s 1993 World Indoor Champs men’s 4x400m relay silver-medal team alongside Dazel Jules, Neil de Silva and Ian Morris, believes more work must be done at the grassroots level to ensure this nation produces a consistent calibre of world class athletes.

Before Keshorn and Richards’ podium finishes earlier this month, TT last medalled at the World Champs in 2017, with Machel Cedenio, Jarrin Solomon, Lalonde Gordon, Renny Quow and Richards powering to men’s 4x400m gold. Richards had earlier earned 200m bronze.

Before that, Gordon battled to 400m hurdles World Champs gold in 2013.

Daniel, who shared similar sentiments after the 2024 Olympics, said TT should not rely on a handful of standout athletes to carry the flag at the highest level of track and field, and the country must urgently fix its school system and sporting structures if it wants to remain a consistent force on the international stage.

“We have a tendency to count on one and two person’s role at this level. TT is full of talent.

The problem is that we don’t have the proper things in place for the sport to go properly,” Daniel said.

The ex-400m runner praised Richards’ silver medal run, but said true progress will only come when grassroots development becomes the priority.

He questioned if the success of our current stars are enough to sustain the nation’s sporting reputation.

Daniel warned that without proper planning, TT risks long gaps between producing world-class athletes.

“It took the 4x400m team about 24 years (from 1993 to 2017) before some of them could have even bettered our performance in 1993.

We don’t want that after Jereem and them, we have to wait another 24 years again before we have people like that up there again.

“So we might be watching Jereem and Keshorn, but what about the rest of the country? Are we just banking on two athletes alone for the next five years.

We have plenty more, but they need help. The whole sporting facility thing needs help.”

When asked to elaborate on what solutions he might suggest could address these issues, Daniel said TT must rethink how it markets sport and how it structures facilities across the country.

While acknowledging that not every community can get state-of-the-art venues, he urged a more creative approach.

Jereem Richards shows the 400m silver medal he copped at the World Championships.

“We have to come up with different strategies in how we market sports in TT and what we put together with it. Just running track and field by itself alone, sometimes it’ll be boring based on which area you are in.”

In his view, the southern communities remain a hotbed for athletics, with strong crowd support compared to other parts of the island.

He recalled earlier decades when athletics thrived in TT, drawing large crowds at community-based meets.

“If you go back to when Palo Seco, when Point Fortin, when Point a Pierre, Southern Games, this what we need to do, we need to come up with a strategy.

Maybe if we could even find a way to combine track and field and cycling like in the older days, this brought immense crowds for support.”

Daniel drew reference to Richard’s post-race comments at World Champs, where he called for more public support for athletes at major local track and field meets.

“I agree with Jereem’s remarks on support in the stadiums.

Athletes also need that presence of people cheering them on. They perform better.”

He said more past TT athletes should get involved in the development of the sport, from Carifta level upwards.

“Get them back involved to see if they can help.

Let’s look for a stronger Carifta team to see how best we can do at that level.

We really need to polish up on these things and see how best we can help the athletes.

We have to have a team effort. It’s not just about one coach from a club.”

He also urged collaboration across clubs, federations, government and the private sector.

“We can’t be selfish with the sports. We have the talent and we have some facilities.

We need to get some of the right people to help the athletes. We have time. We like too much of last-minute things.”