Richardson Viano (born 16 August 2002) is a French-Haitian alpine skier, competing in giant slalom and slalom.
Biography Viano was born on 16 August 2002 in in Tabarre, Ouest, Haiti. He spent 18 months of his life in a Haitian orphanage. In December 2005, at three years of age he was adopted by an Italian couple living at Briançon in France. He was adopted alongside two girls from the same orphanage.
When his new adoptive parents, Andrea Viano and Silvia Grosso-Viano, drove Viano to his new home in the French Alps he was scared by the unfamiliar surroundings but intrigued by the snow, which he called "magic powder". His adoptive father was a ski instructor and Viano became interested in skiing.
Athlete The president of the Haitian Ski Federation, Jean-Pierre Roy, who had competed for Haiti at the 2011 FIS World Ski Championships in Germany, called Viano to ask him to consider competing for his birth nation. Viano originally thought the call was a prank but took up the offer after researching Roy and the Federation online. Viano received a Haitian passport in Summer 2019 and his change of nationality was approved by the International Ski Federation that November.
Viano competed for Haiti at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2021 in Italy, coming 35th and achieving enough points to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics. He became Haiti's first Winter Olympic athlete. He placed 34th in the men's slalom and failed to complete the giant slalom.
Viano competed in the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in France and finished 38th in the men's giant slalom. He skis for the SC Puy-St-Vincent club and speaks French and Italian. He competed at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in the men's giant slalom, placing 44th.
World Championship results YearAgeSlalomGiantslalomSuper-GDownhillCombinedTeamcombinedParallelTeam event 2021 18 DNF2 35 — — — rowspan=2 — — 2023 20 DNF1 38 — — — — — 2025 22 39 DNFQ2 — — — —
Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giantslalom Super-G Downhill Combined Teamcombined Team event2022 19 34DNF1————2026232944———
See also Stevenson Savart
References
External links
Richardson Viano at Milano Cortina 2026