More Kiwi Athletes Ready to Win Medals in South Korea

Beginning with the Opening Ceremony at midnight NZT on 9 March, the Paralympic Winter Games will be broadcast live and free-to-air on DUKE with livestreaming and OnDemand highlights at tvnzco.nz. Whilst small, the New Zealand Team is composed of three very experienced Paralympians. Between them they already boast a gold and a silver medal from two past Paralympic Winter Games.

Vancouver 2010 gold medallist Adam Hall heads into PyeongChang 2018 ranked 3rd and 8th in the world in the Men’s Downhill Standing and Slalom Standing respectively. He will contest four Men’s Standing events in Para alpine skiing, including Downhill, Slalom, Super-G and Super Combined. The Dunedin-born champion has dominated the international scene since 2005, racing in the sport class LW1. This classification is for Para athletes with a physical impairment that strongly affects both legs, such as the significant muscle weakness caused by Hall’s congenital condition, Spina bifida. Hall has represented New Zealand three times at the Paralympics in Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. He has long been recognised as a specialist in technical disciplines but recently has also achieved top results in speed disciplines. In 2016, Hall won gold in Slalom and Super-G at the World Cup in Aspen and last year, won Slalom bronze at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in Italy.

Sit skier Corey Peters, whose silver medal on debut at Sochi 2014 saw him return home as the only New Zealand medallist, Paralympic or Olympic, will start PyeongChang 2018 ranked 3rd and 8th in the world for Men’s Super-G Sitting and Downhill Sitting respectively. The New Plymouth native will contest both these events, along with two additional, the Men’s Super-Combined and Giant Slalom Sitting. Peters competes in Sport Class LW12-1, for athletes with an impairment affecting both legs. Peters’ sustained a crushed spinal cord in 2009, following a motocross accident. His exceptional aptitude saw him win a gold and two silvers at recent World Cups in 2017 and two silvers at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships.

Wanaka based Carl Murphy, the only Para snowboarder to have ever represented New Zealand at a Paralympic Winter Games, finished fourth on debut at Sochi 2014. Murphy comes into PyeongChang 2018 with a world ranking of 7th in the Men’s Snowboard Cross and 9th and Men’s Banked Slalom. He competes in Sport Class SB LL, for Para snowboarders with leg impairments.  Murphy was born with a lower leg deficiency and competes wearing a custom-built carbon fibre prosthetic. His Men’s Banked Slalom bronze medal three weeks ago in Canada has set him up for a great start to PyeongChang 2018.

Ashley Light, New Zealand Paralympic Team Chef de Mission, said: “I could not be more excited to be heading back up to South Korea, this time with such an experienced team of Paralympians. The recent Olympic Winter Games showed just how exceptional our winter athletes can be and I believe we can add to the medal count, making this our most successful combined Olympic and Paralympic campaign ever.”

Fiona Allan, Paralympics New Zealand Chief Executive, said: “The entire PNZ team have worked hard in the lead up to the Games to provide the best possible high performance environment in PyeongChang for the NZ team lead by Chef de Mission, Ashley Light. I wish Adam, Carl and Corey all the best in their final preparations and wish them all the best for the Games ahead.”

She continues: “Following on from the huge success of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games broadcast, we’re thrilled to be working with TVNZ again with live and free-to-air coverage. We are hoping that New Zealanders will once again get behind, and this time show their support to, our winter Paralympians.”

Watch the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games live on DUKE and TVNZ.co.nz from midnight NZT on 9 March. In addition, tune into TVNZ 1 at 8.30am this Sunday 4 March to watch “Slick as Ice”, a behind the scenes documentary by Attitude Pictures exploring the dedication and determination of our NZ winter Paralympians.