Paralympian Corey Peters will lead the New Zealand team into PyeongChang Olympic Stadium this evening at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea tonight.
670 Para athletes from 45 countries will compete in six Para sports.
New Zealand has three athletes competing - Peters in the sit ski events, Adam Hall in the standing ski events and snowboarder Carly Murphy.
New Zealand is targeting two medals at the Games.
Corey Peters is the New Zealand team flagbearer. Photo: Supplied
Peters, 34, from New Plymouth is ranked 3rd and 8th in the world for Men's Super-G Sitting and Downhill Sitting.
"I feel so privileged and humbled to be named as the flag bearer for the New Zealand Paralympic Team. I am so excited to lead the team and to know that all our supporters, especially my family, are watching us back in New Zealand will make the honour extraordinarily special."
Peters, will be competing at his second Paralympic Winter Games following winning a silver medal on debut at Sochi 2014 Paralympics where he returned home as the only New Zealand medallist across both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Peters will contest five events in PyeongChang including the Men's Super-G Sitting, Downhill Sitting, Super Combined Sitting and Giant Slalom Sitting.
He will not only lead the Team into the Olympic Stadium on Friday, he will also be the first to compete on Saturday along with team mate Adam Hall in the Downhill event.
Peters has his sights set on a podium finish after a series of exceptional results including a gold and two silvers at recent World Cups in 2017 and two silvers at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships.
Adam Hall Photo: Supplied
The Vancouver 2010 gold medallist, Dunedin born Adam Hall heads is ranked 3rd and 8th in the world in the Men's Downhill Standing and Slalom Standing respectively.
He will contest four Men's Standing events in Para alpine skiing, including Downhill, Slalom, Super-G and Super Combined.
The Dunedin-born champion has dominated the international scene since 2005, racing in the sport class LW1.
This classification is for Para athletes with a physical impairment that affects both legs, such as the significant muscle weakness caused by Hall's congenital condition, Spina bifida.
Hall's represented New Zealand three times at the Paralympics in Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.
He has long been recognised as a specialist in technical disciplines but recently has also achieved top results in speed disciplines.
In 2016, he won gold in Slalom and Super-G at the World Cup in Aspen and last year, won Slalom bronze at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in Italy.
Para-Snowboarder Carl Murphy. Photo: Supplied
Wanaka based Carl Murphy, the only Para snowboarder to have ever represented New Zealand at a Paralympic Winter Games, finished fourth on debut at Sochi 2014.
Murphy goes into this year's competition ranked 7th in the Men's Snowboard Cross and 9th in the Men's Banked Slalom.
-RNZ
