August 13, 2025
Helaina, Henniyah, and Henri Rivers IV are looking to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics as alpine skiers.
After becoming the first Black triplets in the United States to achieve the prestigious Eagle Scout rank, Helaina, Henniyah, and Henri Rivers IV are setting their sights on another remarkable milestone — competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics as alpine skiers representing Jamaica.
The 17-year-old siblings from Long Island, New York, are currently training in Argentina, a step toward fulfilling a goal that’s been in the works for nearly two decades.
“My mom came to the U.S. when she was young, so she obviously did not grow up skiing, but she learned how to ski when she met my dad,” Helaina told PEOPLE, speaking about their Jamaican-born mother, Karen, and American father, Henri. Both parents are now certified ski instructors and alpine race coaches.
Introduced to snow sports at just a year old, the triplets began racing by age 5. “We grew up skiing, and we’ve been skiing ever since,” Helaina said.
“We’ve loved it.” The family’s early years in Brooklyn included plenty of snowtubing, sledding, and snowboarding before the children focused on competitive alpine racing as members of the Windham Race Factory in the Catskills.
“We started out in the children’s learning center… and then we progressed up to the Windham Race Factory,” Helaina recalled. “That’s really what kick-started our racing career.”
By age 14, skiing had become a six-day-a-week commitment at specialized boarding schools. For Henri IV, the sport is central to his identity. “Without skiing, I don’t really have a whole purpose in life… This is my one goal in life,” he said during a call from Argentina.
Two of the triplets have already represented Jamaica at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in South Korea, and their father believes the best is yet to come. “They’re going to be phenomenal racers for years to come,” he said. “But what’s best is that they’re great individuals… I’ve done my job.”
Their discipline extends beyond the slopes. For their Eagle Scout service projects, the siblings worked together to beautify a public space in Brightwaters, New York. Helaina replaced a deteriorating wooden flagpole with a 25-foot fiberglass one, Henniyah installed paving stones and cement pathways, and Henri added flower boxes and benches overlooking the area.
Now, as they balance college plans with Olympic training, the Rivers triplets are proving that their drive for excellence reaches far beyond the mountains.
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