The Fastest Jamaican Skiers

Words: Megan Michelson

Eighteen-year-old triplets, Henri IV, Henniyah and Helaina Rivers, south of Central Park, NY, for a Spyder campaign in January 2026, just before Henri IV left to represent Jamaica in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: Joe Greer

 

The living room wall of the Rivers’ family home in Long Island, NY, makes it clear that skiers live here. Vintage posters from decades of National Brotherhood of Snowsports summits cover the walls, an artful collection of Black skiers in motion. On the couch sit 18-year-old triplets Henri IV, Henniyah and Helaina. “We’ve been inseparable since birth,” Henri says.

The triplets got their start at Windham Mountain, NY. Their father, also named Henri, is the president of the National Brotherhood of Snowsports and a longtime Windham Mountain ski coach. Their mother, Karen, who immigrated from Kingston, Jamaica, to Brooklyn as a child, is a ski instructor. Every weekend, the Rivers family would travel 3 hours from their home in Long Island to Windham, where their parents would teach skiing. The triplets joined the race program at age 5.