Alpine skiers Nikhil Al­leyne and Em­ma Gat­cliffe have been named the na­tion’s flag bear­ers for the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the Mi­lano Corti­na 2026 Win­ter Olympic Games.

​As the red, white, and black flag pre­pares to flut­ter against the back­drop of the Ital­ian Alps, the se­lec­tion of Al­leyne and Gat­cliffe sig­nals a bold new chap­ter. While the “So­ca Slid­ers” of the bob­sleigh team have long been the face of T&T’s win­ter ef­forts, 2026 marks the his­toric Olympic de­but of a Trinidad and To­ba­go alpine ski team.

​The T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC), yes­ter­day, des­ig­nat­ed the duo to lead the TeamT­TO del­e­ga­tion across the Games’ unique dual-clus­ter open­ing cer­e­monies. Al­leyne has been en­trust­ed as the flag bear­er for the Bormio Clus­ter, while Gat­cliffe will serve as the fe­male flag bear­er for the Corti­na Clus­ter. Both ath­letes are set to com­pete in the Slalom and Gi­ant Slalom events. For Gat­cliffe, a stand­out stu­dent-ath­lete at St Lawrence Uni­ver­si­ty, and Al­leyne, who tran­si­tioned to rep­re­sent T&T in 2022, the ho­n­our is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of dar­ing to dream be­yond bor­ders and cli­mate.

​“To car­ry the flag for T&T at the Olympic Win­ter Games is deeply hum­bling,” said Al­leyne. “I do this with the strength and sup­port of my team­mates, coach­es, and every­one who be­lieved in us. We car­ry our coun­try’s hopes to­geth­er.”

​Gat­cliffe added, “This mo­ment is in­cred­i­bly emo­tion­al. Be­ing named a flag bear­er is an ho­n­our I share with my en­tire team. We have pushed each oth­er, sup­port­ed each oth­er, and now we stand to­geth­er on the Win­ter Olympic stage for T&T.”

​The 2026 del­e­ga­tion rep­re­sents the na­tion’s largest in re­cent his­to­ry, fea­tur­ing sev­en ath­letes across two dis­tinct sport­ing dis­ci­plines. The alpine ski­ing con­tin­gent in­cludes Gat­cliffe and Al­leyne, while the bob­sleigh squad fea­tures pi­lot Ax­el Brown along­side team­mates Sha­keel John, De Aun­dre John, Xaver­ri Williams, and Mic­ah Moore. The bob­sleigh team makes its sec­ond con­sec­u­tive ap­pear­ance, no­tably com­pet­ing in both the two-man and four-man events for the first time at a sin­gle Games.

The Mi­lano Corti­na 2026 Win­ter Olympic Games will be host­ed across mul­ti­ple clus­ters from to­mor­row un­til Feb­ru­ary 22. Lo­cal view­ers can tune in at 3 pm (T&T time), with the preshow start­ing at 2.15 pm.

The spec­ta­cle will be unique in Olympic his­to­ry, as two caul­drons in­spired by the ge­nius of Leonar­do da Vin­ci will be lit si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. One will ig­nite at the Ar­co del­la Pace in Mi­lan be­fore mov­ing to San Siro Sta­di­um, while the oth­er will glow in Pi­az­za Di­bona, Corti­na d’Am­pez­zo.

The TTOC, in a re­lease, ex­tend­ed its con­grat­u­la­tions to Al­leyne and Gat­cliffe, as well as to the en­tire TeamT­TO del­e­ga­tion, and wished all ath­letes and staff the very best as they proud­ly rep­re­sent the red, white, and black on the Win­ter Olympic stage.

It added: “As TeamT­TO march­es for­ward, the flags car­ried by both Al­leyne and Gat­cliffe will rep­re­sent not just a na­tion, but the dreams, re­silience, and un­break­able spir­it of T&T—unit­ed, de­ter­mined, and ready to shine on the world stage.”

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