Para athlete Peter Cowan competes in an adaptive version of waka ama, known internationally as Para va’a, which is a division of Para canoe at the Paralympic Games.
Peter competes in the VL3 classification.
Aged 15, Peter was training on his bike for the IronMāori triathlon when he was clipped by an oncoming car. After the serious accident, Peter later made the difficult decision to amputate his injured leg. In his last year of high school, he discovered paddling and soon fell in love with the sport.
Peter won two golds and a silver in the World Waka Ama Championships, and also placed fourth in the 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. At the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint and Para Canoe World Championships, Peter placed 8th in the VL3 event.
In the 2023 World Championships in Germany, Peter showed his potential to be at the pointy end of the field, finishing 9th in his VL3 200m event in one of the tightest finals of the competition.
Peter is a member of Haeata Ocean Sports Inc. and Hawkes Bay Kayak Racing Club.
In May 2024, Peter achieved a silver medal in the va’a at the ICF Paracanoe World Championships in Szeged – a remarkable milestone in his paddling career. In the thrilling VL3 200m final, Cowan finished just 0.071 seconds behind Ukraine’s Vladyslav Yepifanov.
In June 2024, Peter was selected to the NZ Paralympic Team headed to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. On his Paralympic debut, Peter – competing in the va’a boat – took a brilliant bronze medal in the Men’s 200m VL3, clocking a time of 48.28. His medal ensured the New Zealand Paralympic Team collected a total of nine medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Peter maintained his excellent international form in 2025, placing fourth in the Men’s 200m VL3 – just 0.04 shy of a podium spot – at the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Milan.
