“Pretty special”.
That’s how Māori-Samoan canoeist Peter Cowan (Ngāti Kahungunu) has described making his Paralympic debut at Paris 2024 overnight.
“It didn’t feel too scary out there.
“It felt nice just taking in the moment, hearing the crowd and soaking up the atmosphere at my first Paralympic Games.”
Cowan who competes in Para Va’a - an adaptive version of waka ama - put on an impressive performance in the Men’s VL3 200m at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Centre, finishing second behind heat winner and defending champion Curtis McGrath of Australia.
“Crossing the finish-line felt like a happy moment because it was my last walk to the start gate as a para-athlete and coming out a Paralympian felt pretty special.
“To be ushered through that with the reigning Paralmypic champ was pretty special.”
The 29-year-old from Hawke’s Bay flew out of the start gate and held the lead at halfway until McGrath produced a late surge to win in a Paralympic Games best time of 48.97 seconds.
Cowan was second in 50.17 seconds and qualifies for Sunday’s semi-final, with the final later that day.
“I’m pretty happy with today’s performance, and just look forward to our next couple of races.”
Already a World Waka Ama champion - with two gold medals and a silver to his name - Cowan’s standout performance in his heat leaves him feeling positive about his races ahead.
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence.
“Seeing all our mahi come together over the last few weeks at the training camp in motion here definitely gives me a lot of confidence.
“Moving forward I have no doubt we will be able to deliver similar performances, if not better.”
The Games are a dream come true for Cowan.
When he was just 15 years old, he was knocked off his bike by a car while training for IronMāori, eventually losing his leg due to the severity of his injuries.
In his last year of high school, he discovered paddling and fell in love with the sport.
“The overall experience [of the Paris Games] has been sometimes a bit overwhelming.
“I’m just taking it moment by moment and really soaking it all in.”
Two other Māori para-athletes have also been in action.
Swimmer Cameron Leslie (Ngāpuhi) - a three-time Paralympic gold medallist - finished an agonisingly 0.13 seconds shy of bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle.
Meanwhile, defending champion Holly Robinson (Ngāi Tahu) - who won a shot put bronze earlier this week - was disappointed to place sixth in the women’s javelin final.