Kiwi team gets warm welcome
The victory lap is just beginning, declared skier Adam Hall.
New Zealand’s talented trio have arrived back in the country after collectively winning three medals in a successful Paralympic Winter Games campaign.
Hall, Corey Peters and Carl Murphy punched above their weight in PyeongChang to finish 16th on the overall medal table with one gold and two bronze medals to their name.
Hall, a 30-year-old from Dunedin, won a gold in the men’s standing slalom and a bronze in the super combined skiing events.
He was also honoured with the Whang Youn Dai achievement award, which is given to the athletes who best represent the spirit of the games.
Hall was delighted to receive such a warm welcome at Auckland Airport yesterday and said he could not wait to celebrate his success with friends and family.
‘‘I’m so pleased to be home. I said it’s going to take awhile for it to sink in but we’re going to make sure we enjoy every moment of it,’’ Hall said. ‘‘We worked really hard to be in this position and now that we’re finally in it it’s kind of unbelievable, but then it is believable because of all the hard work and dedication that has gone into making it happen.’’
Hall said celebrating his success in South Korea was not quite the same as being able to do it face to face, so he was looking forward to sharing his experience with the rest of the country.
‘‘It’s been a long time coming,’’ he said.