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Kiwi Paralympic champion back where it all began
Sport Nation • March 12th, 2026 1:44 pm
Adam Hall during practice ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 | Photo: Jeff Crowe / Photosport
The Paralympic Games are in full swing in Milano Cortina, and one man whose Games are just about getting underway is Alpine Skier Adam Hall.
The two-time Paralympic Gold medalist is back in Italy competing in his sixth Winter Paralympic Games, 20 years after his first in Turin.
The 2018 Halberg Para Athlete of the Year spoke to Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy as he itched to take to the slopes in hunt of a sixth Paralympic medal.
“I’ve definitely been sitting in a bit of a holding pattern and I’m ready to go,” Hall said.
For most, making a Paralympic or Olympics games once is off the radar, but for Hall, he’s still at the top of his game heading into his sixth.
“It’s pretty amazing to think that I have lasted all this time. Twenty years down the track we’re back in Italy where it started for me.
“I’ll have time to reflect on that journey at some stage, but at the moment it’s a huge honour and a privilege to be able to wear that fern on the biggest Paralympic stage.
“We’ve come into this campaign the best prepared we can be and left no stone unturned.”
Hall was born with Spina Bifida, a defect that affects the spine and spinal cord, but as a six-time Paralympian, it hasn’t held him back.
“In some ways when you’re born with a disability, for me spina bifida, I know no difference,” Hall said.
“It’s all I’ve ever known, compared to those others that perhaps have overcome a certain challenge to then readjust their life.”
“Sure you have your ups and downs. Training days that may be harder than others. It’s those days when you get up and you keep pushing towards those challenges and you break them down and you feel a lot better afterwards.
“When you talk about the journey and what it takes to be the best and when you reflect back it’s those days that make a difference.
“There’s nothing I can do now that’s going to make a difference, it’s those decisions that we’ve made and those things that we’ve done over the last three or four or 15 years that make those differences.”
But what drew Hall to the snow?
“From an early age it was something that I found that I could excel at amongst my peers,” the South Island native said.
“I found the independence and the passion and that freedom that we all talk about when you’re up there on the mountains.
“There’s an amazing environment and you can kind of leave your troubles behind for a little bit and go out there.
“When you get to a level where you can represent your country and your communities and your family and friends and everybody that’s helped you get to where you are, it’s a pretty special feeling.”
Years on the circuit with fellow New Zealand Paralympic gold-medalist Corey Peters, who claimed fifth in the Men's Downhill skiing earlier in the Games, has forged a bond that extends well beyond sport.
“We spend more time together than what we do with our families,” Hall said. “We’ve become like brothers”
“It’s like any sports person at that level, sure Corey will have a little bit of disappointment.
“When you have so much support around you and everybody puts in so much hard work behind the scenes, I think naturally as an athlete you have a little bit of that guilt or you feel a little bit bad.
“At the end of the day, the sun comes up, you realise your family and your friends and the people that have been there they still love you and they still care about you.
“Nobody is bigger than sport, and we get to do what we do, inspire others to be out there, and when you’re top five or top six in the world, that’s still an amazing achievement.”
You can see Adam Hall and Corey Peters in action when they compete in the Men's Giant Slalom from 9pm on Friday March 13, as well as Hall in the Men's Slalom from 9pm on Sunday March 15.
Listen to the full interview:
