New Zealand has three alpine skiers competing at the Beijing Winter Paralympics over the next 10 days with two of them strong medal contenders again.
Adam Hall is attending his fifth games, while Corey Peters is at his third.
Adam Hall Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The last couple of years have been tough for the New Zealand team, with their preparation drastically hit by the Covid pandemic.
Hall and Corey Peters take plenty of experience into these games and that will be essential with Covid wrecking their buildup.
They've essentially had no international competition for three years.
Peters, a previous silver and bronze medalist caught a mild case of Covid while training in Colorado over the new year and was forced to make a late trip to the world championships in Norway in January, managing to compete in just one event, finishing 4th in the Giant Slalom.
"It's been a bit weird and I suspect everyone is sick of hearing about Covid but it's been the talk of our buildup the past couple of years.
"It hasn't been the best buildup I've ever had but I've got the experience behind me so just got to try and bank on that I guess."
"Also the venue is new to everyone, we haven't had a test event there like in previous years and so I think it's just about who can adjust the quickest.
Paralympic debutante Aaron Ewan also competed at the World Championships earlier this year, while it wasn't a great competition for him he was probably a bit harsh with his critique.
"I got smoked, it was a real eye-opener. You go to all the America races and you think you're top notch because you're getting on the podium but you go over there (Lillehammer) and you get blown out of the water."
Corey Peters, Adam Hall and Aaron Ewan Photo: Paralympics NZ
The trio have been training in North America for the last four months.
Adam Hall, a 2-time Paralympic champion, is out to defend his standing slalom title.
He says while they've been light on international competition in recent years, there has been a lot of high volume training on snow which has been good.
Hall feels the global issues of recent years has got a lot of athletes hyped up for Beijing.
We've all sacrificed so much to be where we are, to be away from family and friends and to be living in reasonably strict protocols throughout the whole season.
"So I think it makes this one a bit more special and will try and push that much harder and will try and put all the work that we've done behind the scenes into fruition and just go out there and as athletes and do what we do."
All three New Zealand athletes are alpine skiers with Hall in the standing discipline and Peters and Ewan in the sitting disciplines.
They'll compete in the majority of the events with all three action on the first day on Saturday.