Adam Hall Starts Season with Podium Result

Copper Mountain, Colorado, USA - (7 December 2013) - A very cold -15 degrees welcomed New Zealand adaptive ski team members Adam Hall (Wanaka) and Corey Peters (New Plymouth) to Copper Mountain in Colorado, USA for the first North America Cup (Nor-Am) races of the Northern Hemisphere season.

The stacked field made for tight racing with the New Zealanders competing against many familiar faces from the World Cup races held at Mount Hutt, NZ in August. Adam Hall faced one of his key rivals, Russian racer Alexey Bugaev, who is currently ranked number one in the world for men’s Super-G in the standing category.  

Despite being based at Winter Park for the last three weeks this was the first time the Kiwis had had the chance to ski Super G. The course was steep and fast which seemed to suit the racing styles of Adam and Corey.

At the end of the day, despite tough cold conditions with many racers crashing out, Adam Hall secured a podium finish in third, while sit-skier Corey Peters finished a credible 10^th.

“To have a close race is exciting,” commented Adam Hall. “I felt athletic and strong after a solid build up; the result shows that the work is paying off and I am where I need to be at this point in the year. We’re definitely closing up the gap and we are seeing all the hard work from the New Zealand season paying off.”

Corey Peters also declared himself “really happy with the outcome of the day as the first hit out of the season.

“I have identified the key areas I can improve for tomorrow’s racing and will be looking to implement these changes.”

Adam and Corey will race another Super G race tomorrow (Sunday, US time) which will hone the senses as the racing season gets well underway.

Adam Hall and Corey Peters, along with para-snowboarder Carl Murphy, will represent New Zealand at the Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia in March 2014. Adaptive ski coach, Scott Olson, described today’s racing as “a great start to build into the Paralympics.”

Official results from the Copper Mountain Nor-Am will be available here: http://www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing/calendar

Ends