Cowan climaxes NZ Paralympic Team Paris 2024 quest with brilliant bronze

Para canoeist Peter Cowan climaxed the NZ Paralympic Team challenge at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on a high by claiming a brilliant bronze in a gripping A final of the Men’s 200m VL3. 

On his Paralympic debut, the 29-year-old from Hastings produced the paddle of his life to claim some major scalps and climb the podium in a time of 48.28. The bronze medal ensured the final medal count for the NZ Paralympic Team at Paris 2024 stands at nine with one gold, four silver and four bronze medals. 

Drawn in lane two in a wide-open A final – having advanced second from his semi-final earlier in the day – he was not without podium aspirations especially given he claimed a silver medal in this event at the Para Canoe World Championships in Szeged earlier this year.  

In a final that seemed to go by in a blur, Great Britain’s Jack Eyers established early control of the race although Cowan too made a rapid start and was always in medal contention throughout. In the closing stages world champion Vladyslav Yepifanov of Ukraine emerged from the pack to take gold in a Paralympic Games Best time of 47.49 – with Eyers 0.38 in silver. In a frantic dash for the line Cowan just held off the defending champion Curtis McGrath of Australia – who appeared to encounter steering issues – and the Kiwi in the sleek black boat could toast a richly deserved bronze medal in 48.28 – 0.06 clear of McGrath. 

An ecstatic Cowan said: “To win a bronze medal at a Paralympics is something big and special. The preparation building up to this was the hardest I’ve had on and off the water. It was challenging along the way, since World Champs I’ve had a number of family events happen. I’ve lost three whanau members, and I had to take time off for that, But when it came to training, I was able to turn up and do my thing. Six weeks in Italy was really good to lock in and my coach (Myka Nuku) and I worked off our race plan from world champs, especially in these conditions. It gave us good intel on how to prepare for this heavy sidewind we had in the final. 

“To do it (win bronze) in a giant field of quality paddlers was just unreal and I take my hat off to all the guys in our division they are all strong paddlers, but I had full belief that the right result would come if I just focused on my own performance.” 

Cowan sustained a serious accident when he was clipped by a car while training on his bike for the IronMāori triathlon as a 15-year-old. Making the difficult decision to amputate his injured leg in his final year at high school he discovered paddle sports and fell in love with the sport. He has since appeared internationally in both Waka Ama and Para canoe.  

Paralympian #198 Scott Martlew also concluded his challenge in the Men’s 200m VL3 on the waters of the Vaires-sur-Marne, placing fourth In the B Final. The Cantabrian who the previous day had finished fifth in the A final of the Men’s 200m KL2 his specialist event has earlier today finished crossed the finish line fifth – behind Cowan – in the second semi-final of the Men’s 200m VL3 to advance to the B final.  

In the B Final he sat third for much of the race before appearing to encounter steering issues towards the end of the race, posting a time of 56.86. 

Martlew said: “It was tough out there with the crosswinds. I struggled in the wind and had to stop at the end just to correct myself. It has been an interesting Games but I’m still proud of myself and the effort to get here and appreciate the support I have had.  

The 24-strong NZ Paralympic Team – which included ten debutants, and five Paralympians aged 20 and under – impressed by setting between them one Paralympic record, four Oceania records, 11 national records and 12 personal best performances as well as countless season bests performances at Paris 2024.  

On his team-mate Cowan winning a medal he said: “It is amazing to see him grow throughout the years and for him to get to this point it (the medal) couldn’t have gone to a better person, so I’m very happy for him.” 

The overall quality and depth of many events at Paris 2024 rose to a new level reflecting the growing strength of Para sport globally. More than 80 nations won medals at Paris 2024 while the New Zealand Paralympic Team also came very close to increasing their overall medal count with six fourth place finishes reflecting the small margins of elite Para sport. 

NZ Paralympic Team Chef de Mission Raylene Bates said: “The athletes have been amazing, they’ve been resilient and given their all in the competition, we couldn’t ask for more.   

“It was refreshing to see so many PB’s from our athletes and a number of memorable performances.  

“Yes, there have been disappointments, which is sport, but I believe that is more a reflection of rising performance standards across the board and the sheer number of world records and Paralympic records which have been set at Paris 2024. 

“Beyond the pure medal count we need to consider performance levels, and we have had so many fourth places as part of the NZ Paralympic Team which could have been medals, Anna Grimaldi was 1cm off the podium in the long jump and Will Stedman was 2cm off the podium in the men’s long jump. Cam Leslie narrowly missed out on a medal in the pool with two fourth places. What we have seen at these Games is a changing of the guard in which young athletes have emerged to snatch medals from our established names. 

“Our challenge is to meet these rising standards in New Zealand and continue to build our programmes to set us up for continued success at Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.”  

Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) were thrilled to formally announce the official Paralympian numbers for the newest Paralympians who made their debut at Paris 2024. The official Paralympian number is given to a Paralympian once they have competed at their first Paralympic Games. PNZ assigns numbers to Para athletes in alphabetical order within each Paralympic Games.  

See the full list below: