DAVID SCARLETT
THE dream of every athlete is to experience the glory of the prestigious Olympic Games at least once in their lifetime. It is the pinnacle of success, particularly, to people involved in track and field.
Trinidad and Tobago's Kirdell McIntosh is a part of that community and he hopes to achieve his Olympic dream at the 2024 Games in Paris, France.
McIntosh, who is currently based at the Abilene Wildcats Athletic Club in Arima, has competed as a 400-metre runner at the Penn Relays in the United States (2014, 2015, 2017), the Cave Hill Invitational Games in Barbados (2014), the World University Games in South Korea (2015), the Whitsuntide Invitational Games in Grenada (2017), the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) Junior Championships (2012), the NAAA Championships and several local track meets.
Throughout his career so far, he has accumulated six major medals – three gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals.
He has a personal best time of 48.07 seconds, which was achieved in 2017 at the Whitsuntide Games.
McIntosh began his athletics career in November 2011 when he scrapped football for the quarter-mile sprint as an 18-year-old Upper Six student at St Benedict’s College. He was encouraged to make the switch by his physical education teacher, Amin Forgenie, and has since enjoyed the journey.
In an interview on August 9, he said, “I began training with Quantum Athletic Club where Trevor James was the coach at the time. I was blessed with the opportunity to have Jereem Richards and Machel Cedenio as my teammates in my first experience of being an athlete. They were the best athletes that I could have had the honour to train with.”
In his first season as an athlete (2012), McIntosh finished second at the National Secondary School Championships, third at the NAAA Junior Championships and fifth at the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) trials, clocking a time of 48.80.
“(The CARIFTA time) made me extremely proud as I had only been running for three months,” he pointed out. “My teammates and family teased me saying, ‘how you make 48 seconds and you now start to run.’ Soon after, I earned a scholarship from the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) for athletics, and that’s where I spent most of my time doing track and field.”
He then had to make the step up from junior to senior level. According to him, the transition was not difficult since he had been a junior for just one year. His experience of training and competing among seasoned athletes was key in his advancement.
Unfortunately, McIntosh’s sophomore year was abruptly cut short when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a training session in 2013. This made his track career “extremely gruelling”.
He lamented, “Since then, I haven’t been able to complete a full season without injury. I would start every season running well for the first two or three months. Then, I would be consistently plagued by injuries.”
McIntosh continued, “Really, it’s my fault. I was given a time fra
