Pedersen and Kampschreur's rivalry elevates Para alpine skiing to new heights
Jesper Pedersen and Jeroen Kampschreur competed at the Maribor 2025 Para Alpine Skiing World Championships, which took place just over a year ahead of the opening of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games 08 Feb 2025
As the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games approach, Norway's Para alpine skiing star Jesper Pedersen wants people to know more about the "stories of athletes", including his fierce, long-time rivalry with Jeroen Kampschreur of the Netherlands.
In Para alpine skiing's sitting category, Pedersen and Kampschreur have battled it out for the top of the podium at some of the sport’s most prestigious events.
"We're at the same age, so we've been competing at the same time, and there have been some fun battles between us," Pedersen said at the Maribor 2025 Para Alpine Skiing World Championships in Slovenia.
"We've had some nice battles in 2019, and he won all five gold medals at the World Championships. It's gone back and forth, and it's nice. We've both worked really hard for our results."
Rivals? Colleagues? Or both?
Sports are often defined by rivalries, and in the world of Para sports, some rivalries have become iconic. In Para ice hockey, there is a long-standing rivalry between the United States and Canada, while Diede de Groot of the Netherlands and Yui Kamiji of Japan have met in the wheelchair tennis women’s singles finals for two straight Paralympic Games.
When Kampschreur describes his rivalry with Pedersen, he smiles and says they are like “colleagues.”
"I think our rivalry made us stronger because we tried to beat each other every time, and everything is on edge because we are strong skiers, and we know it," the 25-year-old athlete said.
"I think we are kind of like colleagues. In skiing, you are not together on a course, so you try to be the best you can, and everybody else tries to be the best they can be.
Kampschreur won six World Cup events, including three slalom races in Feldberg, Germany, before competing at the World Championships that took place in Maribor, Slovenia.
"I think our rivalry improved the sport since everyone had a bigger goal to win," Kampschreur said.
"We have respect for each other. Of course, we can be better every day, but sometimes you are second, third, or fourth, and try to learn from it.
"It's not like you are face-to-face or fighting each other directly. You have to wait for the other one to perform his best, and you have no influence over that. If someone skis fast, then he did well. I give him a handshake, we move on, and we try to beat him next time."
From Beijing 2022 to Milano Cortina 2026
The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games saw the two athletes share the podium in the men’s super-combined event, with Pedersen winning gold and Kampschreur taking silver. Pedersen finished just 0.28 seconds ahead of the defending champion, securing one of his four gold medals in China.
While Kampschreur has said he did not have a successful campaign at Beijing 2022, the medal ceremony remains one of the highlights of the Games. He stood on the podium with brand new prosthetic legs, joined by teammate Niels de Langen, who took bronze.
"It was a really cool thing to do. It was a big dream of mine since the moment I started walking again on prosthetics," Kampschreur recalled. "We made that happen, and since then, I've been walking all the time.
"I've been working on it, and I'm walking way better than I did in Beijing. Hopefully, we can show it again at other Games. And, of course, I hope to do that in Cortina."
Pedersen promises there will be "some cool battles" at Milano Cortina 2026, which will feature 30 Para alpine skiing medal events.
And there are plenty of athletes to look forward to in the men's sitting category, Pedersen adds.
Two-time Paralympic medallist Rene’ de Silvestro of Italy has had incredible results in recent years. PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist Kurt Oatway of Canada "started to ski a bit too fast," and Andrew Kurka of the United States is "really fast in the speed events."
Pedersen said that competing against other incredible athletes is what gets him up from bed every day.
"That's why we ski. It would be boring to do it all by myself, and that's how it's supposed to be. It's nice that everybody is at such a high level and that everybody is competing like that."
