The Velocity Issue
Written by: RONEIL WALCOTT
This week in sports is all about Speeeeeed!
Let’s be honest: even if you tried to look away, you couldn’t miss the whirlwind. IShowSpeed’s vibrant tour of Trinidad on April 25 took over the digital landscape.
Though largely centred in Port of Spain, the influencer’s six-hour blitz saw him sample every ounce of our culture with a level of energy that left even the local "speed demons" in his wake, including a few budding cyclists who struggled to keep pace during his thrill-seeking trek.
But even those youngsters wouldn't have stood a chance against Gasparillo’s cycling phenom, Nicholas Paul. Paul once again proved his world-class calibre at the Malaysian leg of the 2026 UCI Track World Cup in Nilai, bagging a brace of medals.
In the April 25 Keirin final, Paul seemed poised for a top-two finish until Malaysia’s Mohd Azizulhasni Awang unleashed an extraordinary burst of speed in the final metres to snatch gold. Paul ultimately clinched bronze behind Dutch superstar Harrie Lavreysen.
Revenge, however, is a dish best served fast. Paul got his measure of Awang in today’s, April 26, sprint semis, battling back to secure a spot in the final. There, he earned silver after a heavy-duty face-off against Lavreysen, the five-time Olympic champion who continues to define the pace of the global sprint circuit.
The need for speed began on the track earlier on April 19, where 2025 Pan Am Junior champion Shaniqua Bascombe set the Velocity Fest in Jamaica ablaze. The 22-year-old shattered her personal bests, clocking 11.08s in the 100m.
Her 200m performance was even more clinical; she stormed to gold in 22.68s, leaving a field of Jamaican standouts, including World Championship silver medallist Tina Clayton (23.02s) and her twin Tia, trailing in her rearview. That time catapults Bascombe to fifth on the T&T all-time list for the discipline.
Shifting focus from the track to the pitch, speed took a more aggressive turn in the West Indies Championship. While Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales aren't always labelled "tearaway" quicks, they had the Leeward Islands Hurricanes hopping in round two, with both bowlers recording six-wicket hauls.
However, the pace turned perilous on Day three when a fierce Seales bouncer struck Jeremiah Louis on the helmet. The match was abandoned shortly after, with CWI labelling the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium pitch "dangerous". Thankfully, Louis was discharged from the hospital with a clear CT scan.
In the IPL, "lovely cricket" was the order of the day for Akeal Hosein. On April 23, the left-arm spinner produced a career-best four for 17, leading the Chennai Super Kings to a 103-run demolition of the Mumbai Indians. The momentum didn't hold into today, as CSK fell to the Gujarat Titans, but the "Trini Battle" lived on elsewhere. Sunil Narine got the better of mate Nicholas Pooran in a bottom-of-the-table thriller between KKR and Lucknow.
After both teams finished on 155, Narine dismantled Pooran with the first ball of the Super Over, steering KKR to a vital second win of the season.
Finally, we move to the sport that unifies us all: football. At Chelsea FC, the "speed" of the exit door was the main talking point. Manager Liam Rosenior was sacked on April 22 after just three months.
Signed to a five-and-a-half-year deal, Rosenior left London singing the blues after a five-match scoreless streak—the club's worst since 1912. The "post-manager bounce" was immediate, as Chelsea eked out a 1-0 win over Leeds today to punch their ticket to the FA Cup final.
On the local front, the drama moved from the field to the High Court. Former national captain Kenwyne Jones lost a defamation case against player Afiyah Cornwall.
The dispute dates back to 2022 when Jones dropped the then-captain of the youth squads, citing "disciplinary issues". Four years later, Madame Justice Joan Charles ruled those remarks damaging to the reputation of the now 24-year-old Cornwall, proving that in sports, words can travel just as fast and hit just as hard as a Nicholas Paul sprint.
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