Corey Peters will be looking to defend his gold medal in the men's downhill sitting ski event. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand para alpine skier Corey Peters admits there is a sense of pressure as he prepares for his fourth – and likely final – Paralympic Games.
The 42-year-old heads to the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games as the defending men’s downhill sitting champion, having produced the run of his life in Beijing four years ago to sit atop the podium.
There is added motivation for Peters, who is determined to maintain his record of medalling at every Paralympics he has contested, a streak that began with men’s giant slalom sitting silver in Sochi 2014, continued with downhill bronze at PyeongChang 2018, and was followed in Beijing 2022 by gold in the downhill and silver in the men’s Super-G sitting.
Peters is competing in all three of those events again, starting with his gold medal defence on Saturday, and the Taranaki native heads in with confidence after claiming several World Cup medals this season, including a gold at Santa Caterina – approximately three hours from Milano Cortina – in December.
“There is a bit of outside pressure, but as long as I can go out there and ski the way that I know how to then I try not to focus too much on the results or the outcome,“ Peters told the Herald.
“As long as I make myself and my family proud, go out there and give it 100% and ski the best that I know I can then I’ll be more than happy, but every athlete that goes to a Paralympics Games, you go there to medal, otherwise you probably shouldn’t be going at all really.
“The goal is always to do well so I’ve had a pretty successful run with medalling at every Games I’ve been to so I’d like to try and keep that goal in the back of my mind as well.”
There is a competitive spirit in Peters, who was a former Taranaki age group and development squad rugby representative, before his life changed in 2009 when he sustained a crushed spinal cord at a motocross event.
That competitiveness will be put to the test, as he describes the Olympia delle Tofane slope as more technical compared with Beijing, meaning mastering his two practice runs will be vital if he is to succeed.
He will head into the event on the back foot compared with his competitors, who got the chance to ski the hills during a testing event two years ago, which Peters was unable to participate in because of a dislocated shoulder.
But maybe that’s how he likes it, as prior to winning his gold, he crashed out on both his practice runs at the same spot before producing what he called “the best run of my life”.
“That’s one of the hardest things with ski racing right is, like, you don’t get to continually practice like the park and pipe [athletes] do,” Peters said.
“The other competitors know how it runs but the key is using visualisation and memorising the course and the gates. You have to know where you are on the hill and have your direction going over those blind knolls absolutely nailed.”
While competing, Peters will be pushing his body to the limit, travelling in speeds in excess of 100km/h.
But that’s all part of the thrill in competing.
“There’s obviously a lot of adrenaline going through you and it’s an incredible feeling,” Peters said.
“The best part is getting to the bottom in one piece as well so it’s quite a nice feeling just knowing that you’ve just pushed it to the absolute limit. You know, you’ve got a ski run that’s basically been shut off so that you can try and ski as fast as you can by yourself with nobody else on the hill.”
Whatever happens for Peters, this is set to be his last Winter Paralympics, admitting to Newstalk ZB that he can’t see himself competing for another four years, following the arrival of a baby in late 2022.
“That’s not saying that I won’t continue for another year or two and compete at the next World Champs and stuff like that next year in France,” he said.
“I’ve had a pretty good career in 14 years and it’s one that I’m really proud of and but there does come a point now where sort of being away for four months at a time is definitely hard with a little one at home.”
Peters is part of a two-man Paralympic team, where he will be competing alongside Adam Hall, who is taking part in the men’s giant slalom standing and men’s slalom standing.
This will be Hall’s sixth Paralympic Winter Games, the most by a New Zealand Paralympian.
The Winter Paralympics run from March 6-15.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.