Corey Peters fifth in downhill as Milano Cortina 2026 campaign begins

Corey Peters of Team New Zealand competes in the Para Alpine Skiing Men's Downhill Sitting Final on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images

Four-time medallist Corey Peters has opened his account at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games with a fifth in the men’s downhill sitting in tough conditions.

The 42-year-old, who was defending the title he won in Beijing 2022, made a couple of costly errors but twice managed to make a miraculous recovery to stay upright and record a time of 1 minute 20.89 seconds.

Norwegian Jesper Pedersen, the silver medallist from four years ago, produced a slick run down the Olimpia delle Tofane to register 1 minute 18.14 seconds to take gold.

Niels de Langen of the Netherlands claimed silver – some 1.10 seconds further back – with Canada’s Kurt Oatway filling the final podium spot in bronze (1 minute 19.42).

Competing in warm temperatures of around 9C and softening snow conditions – 11 of the field of 23 registered a DNF’s including Dutchman Jeroen Kampschreur, the quickest man in both training runs.

Peters, who was second out of the start gate, produced an impressive first half of the race, posting the second fastest marks of the day through the first and second intermediate splits as well as registering the fastest mark through the speed gun.

However, his race was soon to quickly unravel as he made two errors off the jumps and went off the optimal racing line. Showing incredible balance and agility, the sit-skier somehow stayed on course but bled precious time which was to cost the New Plymouth-raised and Wānaka based Para alpine skier a podium spot.

“I feel disappointed. We work pretty hard over a number of years, and a lot of dedication and sacrifice goes into it. Unfortunately, conditions did not really gel with me today and I didn’t adapt,” Peters said of his race.

“I kept getting pushed offline on the jumps which ultimately cost me a lot of time. As an athlete you set the bar pretty high and I probably didn’t meet my own expectations. Fifth was definitely not what I was looking for with downhill being one of my better events.”

On the tough conditions he added: “We’ve had a high attrition rate with both training runs purely because of the conditions. When you put your ski in the turn you expect something to come back and get a reaction but with how soft it is and how slushy it is we are not getting the same reaction.

“It will take a while to sink in, but I will try and make amends in the next couple of events.”

Peters continues his quest at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games when he competes in the Men’s Super-G Sitting tomorrow. He will then conclude his competition schedule with the Men’s Giant Slalom Sitting on Friday.