Winter Paralympics 2022: Corey Peters completes collection with sparkling gold

Corey Peters celebrates after winning gold. Photo / Getty

A bout of Covid, a couple of training crashes and a few sleepless nights couldn't stop Corey Peters from completing his collection of Winter Paralympic medals.

The Kiwi skier shrugged off a disrupted preparation to lay down what he called "the best run of my life", winning the men's sitting downhill event in Beijing today.

Peters, who had claimed silver and bronze at previous Paralympics, wasted no time in picking up the gold he needed to finish his set.

In his first event on the opening day of the Games, Peters was the fifth skier out of the gates and set the bar high with a rapid time of 1:16.73.

It was easily enough to move into the gold-medal position and left the Kiwi facing a nervous wait at the bottom of the mountain, with 20 competitors still to come.

But no athlete was able to get within a second of Peters' time, confirming a long-awaited victory for the 38-year-old.

"I'm just speechless, really. Blown away," Peters told TVNZ. "I just feel like I've laid down the best run of my life and obviously it shows on the scoreboard. I'm just lost for words.

"I was pretty nervous - I haven't been sleeping properly the last couple of nights, just with the anticipation of the opening event.

"I just had to try and get the nerves in check and believe in myself and my ability. I know I'm one of the best in the world and today I guess I proved that. It was just a matter of pointing the skis down the hill."

Peters had done a pretty good job of that at the last two Winter Paralympics, winning silver in the giant slalom at Sochi 2014 and bronze in the sitting downhill at PyeongChang 2018.

But his path to the top step of the podium was much less smooth than today's triumphant run, testing positive for Covid-19 in January and being forced to miss the World Para Snow Sports Championships in Norway.

"Covid's been quite annoying and getting it before the world champs was not good," he said. "This is my first downhill in two years so there hasn't been a lot of racing since 2020. I just had to rely on previous experience and skill to pull me through."

That was especially true given his performance on the practice slopes in recent days, struggling to find top form and showing no signs of what was to come.

"During the three training days that we had, I didn't even finish a run," Peters said. "So coming into this I wasn't super confident. But on raceday all that goes out the window and it was just a matter trusting in my ability and just laying it down there."

Peters, who in 2009 suffered a crushed spinal cord while competing at a motocross event in Taupo, will now turn his attention to the super G on Sunday before finishing his campaign with the giant slalom.

The two other members of New Zealand's Winter Paralympic team also kicked off their competition on the opening day, though neither was able to match Peters' efforts.

Aaron Ewen finished 11th in the sitting downhill on his Olympic debut, more than nine seconds behind Peters, while three-time medallist Adam Hall began his fifth Games by finishing 19th in the men's standing downhill.