A magical experience

ABIGAIL Vieira, 17, and her team described their experience at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland as a memorable one, thanking the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the TT public for the support.

Abigail, an alpine skier, was the first person to represent TT at the Winter Youth Olympics.

She competed in the giant slalom, Super G, alpine combined and slalom events.

In the slalom event, which was her last event on Tuesday, she had her best performance that saw her finish 29th overall among the 78 entrants.

In a video, Abigail and her team described the journey and thanked members of the TTOC, “Thank you Mr (Brian) Lewis, Miss (Annette) Knott and Miss (Lovie) Santana for all the support while I am out here.”

Abigail’s father Richard, who also served as the chef de mission, said, “My thanks to the TTOC and the TTSF (TT Snowsports Federation).

You were tremendous, the support that Abby had from the start of this as an idea to seeing this actually be executed perfectly. The ongoing support in making sure the people around the world knew about it made this an incredibly magical experience for her and I know it inspired her and inspired her performance.

On behalf of the entire Vieira family, our deepest thanks.”

Coach Lori Ford said, “I would like to thank the TT Olympic Committee for allowing me to come to this great experience and to work with Abby.

I would love to welcome them to the alpine community of ski racing and I look forward to seeing everyone in the future.

It has been a wonderful experience and Abby was outstanding and the TT people have been awesome.”

General secretary of the TTSF Nick Lau, who also thanked the TTOC for making the trip possible, said this experience can be the start of a long partnership.

“We hope that this positive experience serves as just the first of many successful collaborations between TTOC and the TT Snowsports Federation to come.”