Thai bobsleigh teen inspired by idol Humphries while encouraging next generation

Agnese Campeol is drawing inspiration from her idol Kaillie Humphries in a bid to become the first bobsledder to represent Thailand at the Winter Olympics, while also inspiring the next generation herself, despite her tender years.

Campeol won a silver medal in the monobob at last year's Winter Youth Olympics, her country's first medal at a Winter Olympic event, and the 18-year-old was recently paired with Humphries in a mentoring program.

The program, organized by the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF), gives Campeol the opportunity to work with three-times Olympic champion Humphries, who competes for the U.S. having previously represented her native Canada.

"I want to train with her if possible," Campeol told Reuters.

"I want to learn from her more and more, she has something like 20 years' experience. When I was born she was already racing and on a team.

"She's very nice to me and when I go to the track with her she gives me all of her track notes. It's like a flash of light. It's inspiration."

This weekend, at the world championships in Lake Placid, Campeol will race against Humphries for the first time, after the 39-year-old's recent return to action following a maternity break.

Campeol will then enjoy a well-deserved break after a busy season far from home, where she finished fourth overall in the monobob in the North American Cup, the highest-placed junior athlete, before work begins on qualifying for the Olympics.

"After the World Championships, I will have a few months off, and then from around August I go again until March, traveling all over," Campeol said, having spent very little time at home in recent months.

Campeol, who only discovered bobsleigh at the age of 16 and her first competitive races were the eight qualification races necessary to make the Youth Olympics, has another motivating factor to reach next year's Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

She was born in Italy and lived there until the age of five, and her Italian father is already planning ahead for a chance to return home.

"My father said, if I make it, then they'll buy some tickets to go there," Campeol said.

Even before the 2026 Olympics, Campeol's rise to prominence in such a short period of time is inspiring children in Thailand and showing them that competing successfully in winter sports for their country is a possibility.

"I'm about to cry when I talk about this," an emotional Campeol said.

"Some kids, many kids in my hometown, follow my career path and want to follow this path as well."