Source: Radio New Zealand
Corey Peters heads to Milan with four Paralympic medals already to his name. PHOTOSPORT
Corey Peters has spent most of the past decade chasing winters.
For 12 straight years, the New Zealand sit-skier went season to season without a break, building a career that has delivered four Paralympic medals, including downhill gold at Beijing in 2022. But the road to Milan has looked nothing like the ones that came before it.
Instead of relentless travel and northern hemisphere campaigns, Peters stepped away after the birth of his first child, Valentina, in 2023. He wanted to be present for her first year – and for his partner – and said the decision was one of the best he has made.
“I wanted to build that connection and bond with my daughter,” Peters told RNZ.
“Up until then, it had been 12 years of back-to-back winters without a season off. So it was a perfect excuse to have a break from the first year of an Olympic cycle. I wanted to support my partner and just be there for Valentina as much as I could.”
He had barely begun his return when a setback followed. A dislocated shoulder in training wiped out much of the next season, meaning Peters effectively spent the first two years of his daughter’s life largely at home.
“In hindsight, it was kind of a blessing in disguise really,” he said. “We’re really close and have a good relationship.”
That closeness has made this campaign different in more ways than one. Valentina, now three, struggles with his time away.
“She’s always saying how much she misses daddy and asks when I’m coming home. That goes to show the bond that we’ve created.”
It has also shifted his motivation.
“Up until then, I guess I’d been doing it for myself and now I feel like I am doing it for them as well.”
Peters won gold at the Beijing Winter Paralympics in 2022, adding to his two silver and one bronze in his medal collection. AFP/Xinhua
But fatherhood brought doubt too – particularly in a discipline as unforgiving as downhill sit-skiing.
“One of the biggest things that I did struggle with was how much risk you wanted to put into it,” he said. “You’re aware of your body and not wanting to crash.”
Working with a sports psychologist and logging more time in the start gate gradually restored his belief. Now, on the eve of his fourth Paralympics, he feels competitive again.
The Milan Games, which officially begin on Friday, will likely be Peters’ last at this level. At 42, he acknowledges another four-year cycle may be a stretch, though a world championships campaign next year remains a possibility.
He arrives in Italy as the defending downhill sitting champion after his breakthrough gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, where he also claimed silver in the Super-G. His first Paralympic medal came at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics with silver in the giant slalom, followed by downhill bronze at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympics.
He has never left a Games empty-handed – a record he is keenly aware of.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I want to get one,” he said. “To have that 100 percent success rate at each Games that I’ve participated in – that’s kind of in the back of my mind.”
This time, though, he knows the challenge will be steeper. The Cortina course is more technical than the one in China, with rolling terrain and blind breakovers that punish hesitation. The field has also deepened, as the sport continues to grow.
“It’s certainly not going to be an easy task. You’ve got a bit of a target on your back. Every four years, the competition improves.”
Peters will contest the downhill, Super-G and giant slalom in Milan and says a multi-medal haul would be “the icing on the cake” of his career.
Peters came away with silver in the giant slalom sitting event at his first Paralympics in Sochi 12 years ago. Supplied
His path to the top of the sport was anything but conventional. A former Taranaki age-group and development squad rugby representative, Peters’ life changed in 2009 when he suffered a crushed spinal cord in a motocross accident. After four months in a spinal unit learning to navigate life in a wheelchair, he discovered sit-skiing in 2011 – a sport that would reshape his future.
“It’s been massive for overcoming the spinal cord injury,” he said. “It completely changed my life.”
Whatever happens in Milan, Peters expects skiing to remain part of it. Even if this is his final Paralympics, he plans to continue recreationally, frequenting his local fields at Cardrona and Treble Cone.
“It’s the sense of freedom that it gives you,” he said. “Your disability kind of disappears when you’re in the sit-ski. You don’t have the same limitations on you as you do in the wheelchair on a day-to-day basis.”
For now, though, his focus is firmly on one more push at the highest level – balancing the pursuit of another medal with the perspective he has gained away from the slopes.
The downhill sitting event is scheduled for late Saturday night (NZT), with the Super-G and giant slalom later in the programme.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
