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17th March 2010

Paralympic skier Peter Williams has finished a creditable 20th overall in the men's Giant Slalom - sitting at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics.

Williams from Auckland completed his first run in a time of 1min 34.16seconds to place 27th. However the weather became too treacherous with high winds moving banners and then disrupting timing mechanisms and overall conditions meant the second race was delayed twice before being completed.

Eventually Williams finished in a combined time of 3min 11.86seconds moving up the table seven places. The winner was Germany's Martin Braxenthaler in a time of 2min 37.40seconds.

Williams says that the weather made for a tough day.

"I was up at 5.15am and on the hill at 6.30 before returning off the mountain around 5pm," says Williams "The weather was terrible for the first run you could only see three or four gates ahead through the rain. It was a pretty challenging day. I gave it heaps in the second run and was pleased to move up the order. I know I learned a lot from this experience and will be stronger for it," says Williams.

Meanwhile, Tuesday's Slalom gold medalist, Adam Hall will not race in the Giant Slalom on Thursday (New Zealand time) as he will save himself for his two other events, the Super G on Sunday (NZ time) and Super Combined Monday (NZ time).

"It's a tactical decision," says New Zealand Chef de Mission, Jon Turnbull.

"The Giant Slalom is not his strongest event and is physically pretty taxing. We want him in good form for the Super G and Super Combined,"