“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up” – Corey Peters 2015.
Achieving World status
after three years of dedicated training has been an incredible journey for Corey Peters.
“I certainly wasn’t thinking that when I first started skiing that I would be the best in the world. I couldn’t really believe I had won the World Championships.”
In September 2009 Corey was paralysed from the waist down after a jump landed terribly wrong at a motor-cross event in Taupo.
After only a couple of laps to warm up, it was time to race on an unfamiliar track. A very miscalculated decision of holding the throttle open as he hit the jump meant that he “absolutely, completely, overshot” the landing. “I was so high in the air it wasn’t funny.”
Split seconds in the air turned into what seemed like forever. “Time kind of slowed down when I was at the peak of the jump in the air.” The bike making contact with the ground, therefore landing the jump, was actually the worst thing that could have happened.
“As soon as I hit the ground, still on the bike because I landed the jump, the suspension bottomed out and my butt smacked the seat. With the suspension bottoming out it was like landing in a seated position on concrete as there was no travel left in the suspension. That was when my vertebrae completely burst on impact. In the air I just lost all feeling in my legs and ended up crashing into a wall made of hay bales.”