Living life on the edge, one edge and he's not afraid to use it. In fact I don't think he's afraid of much at all. This mellow man from Taranaki, New Zealand had to re-think and reset his life in 2009 after crushing his spinal cord in a motorcross accident. It left him looking at his future from a different perspective, sitting down in a wheelchair. A reality that all of us would struggle to come to terms with, a seriously daunting challenge.

 

Corey wasted no time dwelling on the many major negatives of his new situation. He was determined to find a new freedom and a new challenge. He got on a ski for the first time in August 2011 at Mt. Ruapehu. Later that season he started training for competition and then got involved in an adaptive race program at Winterpark in Colorado, USA.

 

Two seasons later in 2014 he was standing on the Winter Paralympic podium in Sochi, Russia where he had a Silver Olympic medal hung around his neck for Giant Slalom. That same year he won the Snow Sports New Zealand Ski Athlete of the year award,

 

Back to NZ and to his new winter home down under; Cardrona, Wanaka for more training before heading north again this time to Mt. Panorama, Canada for the 2015 IPC World Championships. Corey scores double gold and is crowned World Champion in both Super-G and Downhill. Corey also bought home the Silver medal for GS.

 

Need a pause here to take in what he's done? Corey doesn't have much time for pauses. He completed another stella Northern Hemisphere 2016 season skiing on to 6 podiums out of 8 World Cup races, that's 4 Gold and 2 Bronze. He arrived back in NZ with a Crystal globe for the overall World Cup win in Super-G and he placed 2nd overall in World Cup downhill.

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2017 and Corey added to his World Cup medal haul; a gold and two silver medals. The 2017 World Championships saw him head home with two Silver medals one each in Downhill and Super-G.

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The PyeongChang Winter Olympics were the focus for 2018 and a Bronze Olympic medal was added to two 2018 World Cup Golds and a Silver.

 

He's at home now and cracking back into his study as an Architectural Draftsman. Working on getting his sit-ski design totally sorted with more suspension tuning. He's finished another off-season training for the upcoming World Champs in Italy and Slovenia early 2019. All this in just a few short years after his accident.

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He has another four year focus leading up to Beijing 2022 and another tilt at adding some Olympic Gold to an already impressive trophy cabinet.

 

Seriously, this guy is the real deal. He'll make you take a fresh look at yourself. We are still trying to get our heads around what he has managed to acheive in such a short time against some insanely tough obstacles. If you're ever in Wanaka, New Zealand during winter look him up and go for a ski with Corey. He'll show you how to tear up a mountain. On one ski with a smile on his face.

 

Favorite One Studio gear: “Speed Suit because it’s the perfect fit and allows me to go fast."

 

Is it good to have input into the design of your competition clothing? "Certainly is. Collaboration with One Studio allows me to get the fit and look that I want."

 

Favourite place to ski: "Tigne, France because the place is huge, with so much terrain there’s a healthy balance of off-piste and groomers."

 

Best experience on the snow: "Heli Skiing during the 2015 NZ winter season."

 

"Huge thank you to Dave and Jen at One Studio Limited for their support in helping me out."