Peter’s podium potential first came into play in 2019.
He joined Duenas in the men’s recurve team event, taking gold and beating Brady Ellison, who broke the world qualifying record at that event, in the last eight rounds en route to the individual bronze. (He was eliminated by fellow countryman and eventual champion Crispin Duenas.)
The pandemic hit shortly after that tournament – and whatever momentum Peters had gained was lost.
As far as Berlin – where home hopefuls Maximilian Weckmüller and Florian Unruh were beaten in his two early elimination rounds after being seeded only 36th, before victories over Steve Wijler of the Netherlands and Indonesia’s Arif Pangestu paved the way to the gold medal match paved.
Defeat finally came at the hands of Mete Gazoz – in a phenomenal five-set finish to the competition in Berlin.
But the consolation of a world silver medal, the best individual result by a Canadian recurve shooter since Dorothy Lidstone’s victory at Valley Vorge in 1969, and an Olympic quota place were all that was needed against a difficult backdrop.
With the departure of Shawn Riggs as national coach in November, former Netherlands coach Ron van der Hoff temporarily took over the helm, although the break was not ideal for Peters.
“We weren’t sure why we came in here, but we did [an Olympic quota place],” he added. “Now we have about 300 days to figure out who’s going to take it.”
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