Wānaka based Paralympian Corey Peters has opened his downhill campaign with a second-place finish at the FIS Para Alpine Downhill World Cup in Santa Caterina, Italy, early this morning (Wednesday December 17).

The result marks Coreys’ first downhill race in nearly four years, following his gold medal-winning performance at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, and signals a strong return to the speed discipline as he builds towards the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics.

“I think my key takeaway from today is that even though I haven't raced downhill for nearly four years, the skills and the ability are still there, so it's really helped the self-belief and self-confidence as we move forward into the rest of the speed events throughout the season, and onto Milano Cortina 2026,” Corey said.

“Preparation over the last six months has certainly contributed to this result, specifically the training trips we do to Chile.”

Conditions added to the challenge, with snowfall throughout the race softening the course and limiting visibility as athletes reached speeds close to 100km/h. 

Despite that, the men’s sitting field was tightly contested, with the top five athletes separated by just 0.71 seconds.

Corey finished only five-hundredths of a second behind Norway’s Jesper Pedersen, who took the win, while Jeroen Kampschreur of the Netherlands claimed third.

The Santa Caterina World Cup is a double-header, with Corey set to race again Thursday morning (New Zealand time).

PHOTO: Alexandra Blum/Heiko Mandl