Corey Peters named region’s top sportsperson
Winter Paralympic gold medal winner Corey Peters has been named Taranaki Sportsperson of the Year and Senior Sportsman of the Year for a second time.
The Taranaki Sportsperson of the Year awards were announced in New Plymouth last night.
Peters, who was the 2015 Taranaki Sportsperson of the Year, won the men’s sitting down downhill at the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games, completing a remarkable campaign that was interrupted by Covid-19 and saw him miss the world championships in the lead-up.
Peters described his performance as ‘‘the run of my life’’ as it capped off the silver medal he won in Sochi in 2014 and the bronze four years later in PyeongChang.
New Zealand’s fastest-ever female sprinter Zoe Hobbs ran away with the Senior Sportswoman of the Year title.
Hobbs broke the New Zealand 100m record five times from December 2021 to July 2022, breaking the Oceania 100m record twice in the process.
She also broke the Oceania Indoor 60m record and ran sixth in the Commonwealth Games, making her the first New Zealand woman to make a 100m final in 32 years. Her performances came on some of the world’s biggest stages, including the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Serbia, the World Athletic Championships in Oregon and the Oceania Athletics Championships.
There are 13 categories featured at the awards.