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First Ever Female Bobsleigh Pilot for Trinidad & Tobago

Akenke Oliver has become the first female athlete from Trinidad & Tobago to pilot a bobsleigh. She attended a training camp in Innsbruck, Austria hosted by Axel Brown and his team, Axe Racing. Here she had a week of training before entering the Europe Cup race week. Training went well, beginning at a lower start, before graduating up to the top of the track a few days later.

Trinidad and Tobago's first female bobsleigh pilot

Akenke was trained by Lee Johnston, a very experienced coach who has trained pilots at every level of the sport, including the Olympics and Youth Olympic Games, and who is a triple Olympian himself. However, despite this, crashes do happen even to the best pilots but are especially common for beginners. On the first day of official training, both Akenke and 2nd team Men’s pilot Xaverri Williams sustained big crashes which would then put them out of the competition due to injury.

Both pilots aim to bounce back and will hopefully compete again later this year or in the next 2024/25 season.

Men’s 2nd Team

Xaverri Williams took a break from being Axe Racing’s brakeman to once again try his hand at piloting a sled. Xav had previously attended a “bobschool” in Lake Placid, NY in late 2022. At the school he learned to pilot a monobob sled. This time he was piloting a 2-man sled rented from the Austrian team. With brakemen Anton Roberts, and De Aundre John, Xav was able to build on his experience and hopefully progress into the next pilot for T&T after Axel Brown retires.