Sydney Peterson thought her college skiing career was over. Then she won Paralympic gold for Team USA.

NCAA — March 3, 2026 — STORY LINK HERE

Three-time Paralympic medalist balances neuroscience Ph.D. work and Team USA skiing heading to Milan Cortina

In the first competition of her first Paralympic Winter Games, Team USA Nordic skier Sydney Peterson didn't shy away from the spotlight. She raced headfirst into it. 

A few months earlier, the Paralympics hadn't even been on her radar. Yet when the then-sophomore Nordic skier at St. Lawrence had begun rapidly losing movement in her left arm and leg due to a neurological disorder, dystonia, her coaches suggested the Paralympics. 

Peterson paused her season to compete in the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, classifying only two months before the Games.

Early into the hourlong 15-kilometer classic race, Peterson found herself leading in her first Paralympic competition. 

"I went out as hard as I could, which was not a smart idea," she recalled. "The coaches were not thrilled about that. They give you splits along the way, and they were like, 'Oh, you're in the lead.' I was like, 'Oh, that is not a good thing.'"

Peterson went into the race with zero expectations and 100% excitement. Despite her blistering start, she ended her first Paralympic competition with a silver medal, becoming the first standing U.S. woman to earn a medal in Nordic skiing at the Paralympics."I was absolutely stoked on that. Then I was like, 'Oh, this is just a fluke,'" she said.

But it wasn't. Peterson hat-tricked her first Paralympics, adding a gold medal in the 4x2.5-kilometer mixed relay and a bronze in the 1-kilometer sprint freestyle. 

Heading into the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics, Peterson is not a novice to the Games but a leader. In October, she joined several Paralympic and Olympic athletes to flip a switch lighting up the Empire State building in red, white and blue in a Team USA promotion, something she never would have imagined when she started her college career.

"I never started skiing because I wanted to become an Olympian," she said. "I just started skiing because I loved to ski. … Each thing gradually led me there, which is really cool."